POLICE have studied CCTV footage from the Recreation Ground following claims that an 11-year-old boy was attacked by a woman, at the skate park.

The boy’s concerned grandfather claimed the women, who was thought to be in her twenties or thirties, hit the child “ten times in his face and chest” following a dispute between the boy and younger children on bikes. The woman alleged to have assaulted his grandson is believed to have been the mother of at least one of the children riding bikes.

The Reporter has been told the eleven year old boy raised objections to the presence of the children riding bikes, because he was trying to skateboard at the time, using the ramps, and he thought they were getting in his way.

The grandfather, who cannot be named, said of the alleged attack by the woman: “Even if an eleven year old has been giving you abuse, you can’t go about punching him.”

But he added that he did not believe his grandson had been abusive.

Police say the boy did not sustain any visible injuries.

But he was reported to have been “traumatised” following the incident.

A police spokesman said: “We were called at 11.48pm on Tuesday May 14 to a report of an assault at the recreation ground on Lawnside Road, Ledbury. It’s reported that between 4.45pm and 5.30pm, an 11 year old boy was assaulted by a woman by the skate park.

“Enquiries are ongoing and CCTV has now been viewed as part of the investigation.”

But a row has brewed up over the CCTV footage, after the grandfather was wrongly advised by Ledbury Town Council staff to contact Hereford control centre, in a bid to locate footage of the alleged assault.

In fact, the CCTV on the Recreation Ground is owned by Ledbury Town Council and the recordings are held at the Community Centre.

The mix-up has exposed that more than one week after the alleged assault, the footage had not been viewed by anyone.

Former town councillor, Tony Bradford, has blamed the wrong advice being given on a lack of knowledge at the present administration. Mr Bradford, who stood down himself from the town council in May, said: “I have given the mayor a piece of my mind. The town council has a duty of care for children who play at the Recreation Ground, but now we have had a situation where the town council has wrongly directed a desperate man to Hereford.”

Ledbury’s mayor, Cllr Phillip Howells said: “The town council has CCTV coverage around that site so the incident will hopefully have been captured as being within the coverage area, although this is yet to be confirmed. Once it was established that the CCTV was the town council’s and we had confirmed that it was housed in the Community Centre, the enquirer was informed.”

But Cllr Howells said he understood the police had now viewed the CCTV footage and had saved imagery.

He said: “Until this point the Ledbury police had not been involved in attempting to capture the footage because it was believed all was in hand. However, once the situation was realised, I contacted the police in an attempt to progress the matter.

“Following discussions by myself and the town clerk with the police and caretaker at the Community Centre, it was confirmed that a PCSO would liaise with the caretaker to go in to the centre to review and save any coverage found.”