A Scots mum has told how she was forced to move her autistic son to another school after cruel bullies tormented him with physical attacks and vile phone calls.
Jack Hemmings' torrent of physical, emotional and homophobic abuse began from his first day St David's High School in Midlothian last year. The 14-year-old, from Dalkeith, was even targeted at home after callous bullies found his number online.
Now, his heartbroken mum, Toni, 46, has told how she would stay up all night crying after her countless attempts to get school staff to take action.
Speaking to Edinburgh Live, Toni said: "It started the first day he was there because he was frightened to go to school. They used to make horrible phone calls with homophobic abuse and they took pictures of Jack and created fake Facebook profiles and then bully him on the account.
"They kicked him, punched him and pushed him down the stairs. I emailed the school dozens of times. He has permanent damage on his knees from how many times they pushed him over.
"We had meetings and they tried to put safe spaces in place and intervene but nothing worked."
Toni described her son Jack as an outgoing, kind, sweet boy who can sometimes struggle to process his emotions and deal with difficult situations. The mum believes that his self-confidence and struggles to communicate were amplified by facing cruel bullies on a daily basis.
She continued: "The school used to tell him to stay inside so they could protect him which was ridiculous. He was still getting targeted inside.
"He became more and more afraid to leave the house in case he saw them on the way to school and felt frightened. One girl sprayed cleaning product in his face and hit him with her mobile phone which caused a big lump on his head, she was suspended for two weeks when she got back he was made to sit in a room with her while she apologised which terrified him.
"After this incident, I phoned the police and they came to the house and said that Midlothian Council has a no police in school policy so they couldn't go in and speak to the group. I found that a lot of the time the school did nothing and when they did do something it just made it worse."
The mum-of-four decided to remove Jack from the school in February for his own safety.
She said: "The school tried to isolate him and it got so bad that he had to be chaperoned everywhere around the school. Just after the February break I marched into the school and said to the teachers I am holding you responsible for keeping my child safe.
"It was okay for a couple of days but it just spiralled from there. On his last day there he was kicked in the stomach so I took him out. I had to remove him from the school as it got too much. The school didn't even acknowledge my email letting them know I was taking him out of school."
"I asked the school if it was a Jack problem or a school problem but he has started a new school now and he is doing great. He is doing wonderful. At home, he still has panic attacks and he is still terrified if he sees any of them in the street.
"He wets himself and can get himself into a right state but recently he told me I'm actually looking forward to going to school instead of being frightened which broke my heart, I never thought we'd get to that point again."
A Midlothian Council spokesman said: “Like all of our schools, we take allegations of bullying extremely seriously. There are strict procedures in place, all of which were followed in this instance. Indeed a huge amount of support and effort was put in place to address the parental concerns.
"It is not appropriate for us to comment in any further detail on issues affecting individual pupils. The school also has further help and support about bullying on its website for both pupils and parents.”
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