Police failed to attend a serious assault on a boy, which was filmed on a mobile phone, despite a couple phoning five times for assistance.

The attack on the youngster, estimated to be about 12 years old, happened close to the Gerlach House residential home in Beecholme Drive, Kennington, Ashford, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm on Wednesday, May 14.

A horrified couple looked on as the boy was head-butted, punched and kicked by six youths aged between 15 and 16, as a man in his 40s filmed the assault from a white Transitstyle van he was sitting in with two teenage girls wearing their school uniforms.

A resident, who does not want to be named, watched the attack from her window with her partner and phoned police five times, but she claims officers still did not show up or follow up her calls.

The woman said: “While we were on the phone to them, about half a dozen kids were kicking and punching him while he was on the floor.

“When they were doing this the man sitting in his van was filming it and was jeering the lads.” she said.

Ashford police spokesman Rosy Alexander confirmed that a call at 8pm had been received.

“A complaint has been received in relation to this and this is being investigated,” she said.

Full story in the Kentish Express