This appalling incident which left a teenage boy seriously injured was a tragedy. However it is shocking that Robert Buckland as a school governor requested witness statements from this case and was handed them by a fellow barrister.
This appalling incident which left a teenage boy seriously injured was a tragedy. However it is shocking that Robert Buckland as a school governor requested witness statements from this case and was handed them by a fellow barrister.
As the Member of Parliament for South Swindon at the time of the incident I worked closely with Henry’s mother, Liz Webster, The Ridgeway School, the local council, community teams and the Wiltshire police to assist Henry’s recovery and make sure his attackers were brought to justice, as well as ensure action was taken at the school and the local council so that this sort of incident could not happen again in any of Swindon’s schools.
I was aware at the time of Mr Buckland’s actions in securing the witness statements of 350 children at the school who saw the incident, and I raised this with a number of organisations and individuals, including the school and the police. I was assured that it was being dealt with and subsequently I became aware that Mr Buckland had left the school’s governing body. Robert Buckland still has questions to answer about his actions, as they had the potential to make a bad situation much worse.