Woman accused of punching brother, 9, at school says she’s had death threats

Rebecca Riley who was arrested in front of dozens of witnesses after being wrongly accused of abusing her little brother John (Picture: SWNS)

A woman who was arrested after being falsely accused of punching her younger brother outside his school says she still receives death threats about the event.

Rebecca Riley, 28, was led away from Ravensworth Primary in Bromley, south-east London in cuffs last June after teachers accused her of punching her nine-year-old brother John in the face.

But police later dropped the case citing ‘insufficient evidence’ after Rebecca claimed she was merely restraining her brother, who has autism, in a way she had been taught.

Despite this, Rebecca claims she is still being ostracised by her local community over the incident- and wants a public apology.

Rebecca has been banned from the playground even after the charges were dropped (Picture: SWNS)

Rebecca, who cares for her younger siblings, said: ‘I still feel really angry about it. That day was a nightmare.

‘John was totally traumatised by it and so was I – and our mum.

‘When they arrested me there were loads of parents there because of clubs after school. It was horrible.

‘I got death threats from parents and I was horribly bullied because of this.

‘It made my life really difficult. I don’t like to go out alone because of this.

‘I can’t believe they put me through all that because of a silly accusation that wasn’t a bit true.’

Rebecca was dropping John, now 10, off at school when a teacher beckoned her inside, she claims.

John has autism and needed to be restrained during an episode, Rebecca explained (Picture: SWNS)

The teacher said they had seen Rebecca punch her brother in the face, to which she responded by claiming John had been having an episode and needed to be restrained using a technique she had been taught and used regularly at home.

But when she came to collect John and another sibling later that day, she found police officers waiting for her at the school gates, who arrested her in front of all the waiting parents.

She was then bailed and later told the case had been dropped on June 11, but felt too frightened of things people in the community were saying about her to go home, she said.

Rebecca, who has eight brothers and sisters, instead stayed at a friend’s house for nine nights and said it was really hard being separated from her family.

John has also been so traumatised by the incident that he has been unable to return to school and is being homeschooled for the foreseeable future.

Rebecca said: ‘John gets really upset and he isn’t close to many people but he’s really close to me. I look after him a lot.

‘It was awful being separated from him – I texted mum all the time because I missed them so much.

Despite dropping the charges, Rebecca says he has been ostrcised from the local community (Picture: SWNS)

‘They weren’t allowed near me or to speak to me.

‘John doesn’t like going to school and was hitting me. When that happens I hug him tightly and stroke him until he calms down.

‘The police could see from the CCTV that I didn’t hit him. I asked the school for an apology but they said they won’t.’

Rebecca was banned from the school’s premises after being arrested.

She appealed but a panel upheld the decision – meaning she still can’t drop John at school.

Education Trust for the 21st Century, which manages Ravensworth Primary, declined to comment.

The Metropolitan Police was approached for comment.

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