A couple have condemned police for failing to respond to FIVE calls for help as a gang of youths beat up a boy.

Police failed to attend the serious assault on a boy, which was filmed on a mobile phone, despite a couple repeatedly calling for assistance.

The attack on the youngster, estimated to be about 12 years old, happened in Kennington, Ashford.

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 Transit-style 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 had been received.

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

For the full story see this week's Kentish Express.