By Colin J Begg

Outside Poundland a group of around 13 fifteen year old boys threaten and abuse a clearly vulnerable man. This man is fairly well known in the area. Yes, he has an alcohol addiction, an illness, but more importantly he has underlying mental health issues. He needs support. It appears he’s not getting it and now he’s literally under attack in the street.

The man is in no fit state to stand let alone defend himself against a group of teenagers. Shop security guards watch this unfold from the safety of the shop entrance but don’t dare step in and stop this vulnerable man from being potentially hurt. Neither do plenty of other members of the general public, bus drivers, business owners, people who you might think or hope understand the words “duty of care”.

Finally, a 24 year old woman meanders through the gang and takes the man by the arm to lead him away to safety. Our reporter spoke to this young woman about the incident: “He was basically a dead weight and couldn’t actually walk straight” she said “I think it’s absolutely disgusting that not one other person stopped to help and I was even told by a worker in Poundland that it was his own fault for being out there drunk! I’m not condoning that but things aren’t always what they seem and in light of what happened to the man in the Stow a few weeks ago you’d think people would be more considerate or at least more aware.”

Dee went on to say “I couldn’t just walk by. I was brave enough to step in and try and stop them, to which I had a can thrown at me by one of the boys and abuse shouted at me. My faith in humanity is holding on by a thread but I really feel as a community something should be done to get a grip on this growing gang culture. Intimidation by numbers is wolf pack behaviour and should not be tolerated or ignored!”

As we approach World Mental Health Day on Monday 10th October we applaud the kindness and consideration shown by this modern-day Good Samaritan and hope it might catch on. Of course Dee had the advantage of daylight in busy part of town and we know that the kind of groups she encountered don’t tend to operate with such bravado preferring generally the cover of darkness to disrupt our neighbourhoods and to taunt pretty much who they like. We agree that as a community something should be done. However, as Essex Police quietly slip back into “business as usual” mode until the next major flare up, the question remains “what?”