Had door kicked twice - can police do anything?

[Bepis]

My 16 year old daughter had a verbal argument with her friends (mostly 16 year old boys) and no longer spoke to them. One of them made a threat to her saying that her and her friend are going to be 'jumped'.

At this point, I didn't get involved as I stay out of her friendships and arguments unless there is some danger involved.

After she fell out with these boys, a group of about 3 came to my house and banged on the front door and ran off. This frightened my other daughter who is disabled. I made a report online to the police and got a call from them the next day. They said they can't do anything about them kicking the door but could about the threat as it's 'malicious communications'. The officer I spoke to told me to ring 999 if they came to the house again and started doing the same.

Anyway, I spoke to one of the boys involved as I knew him and had previously helped him (mental health problems) and he said they would now leave it. I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Everything was quiet for a week and then last night, around 8:20pm, there was a horrendous loud bang on the door. I could have sworn I heard glass break at the time but I couldn't find any. The whole house shook and my disabled daughter was once again traumatised. DH ran outside but they had already run off. They left a whole shoe print on the door. No damage was done to the outside of the door but they did damage something on the inside that was connected to the door.

I phoned 999 as previously advised and he took details. Still waiting to hear from them but will they actually do anything? I know that it is breaking the law but it's whether the police are likely to take further action? If not it's going to continue and escalate and I may not be able to hold my DH back next time.

Its possibly because of the two month gap, you will need to demonstrate (via your consultant) that it is directly related.

Has it been crimed under another offence - harassment perhaps?

Sounds like a sensible decision by the police to me. I hope your dd is feeling better.

Yes I can prove it is directly caused by what they did. She got unwell more or less straight away but finally got bad enough for admission to hospital.

Yes it was crimed under harassment but this was before we knew what damage had been caused.

Thank you. Why do you think their decision is sensible?

Its not going to be down to your proof unfortunately.

Its going to need a medical professional to say it is directly linked. So a psychiatric consultant or similar

@Felix125 That's what I meant. A lot of medical evidence to prove causation.

I'm not sure about this one OP. I don't think you're going to be able to prove that a kick on a door caused a hospital admission.
I appreciate it must have been scary but I doubt it would stand up in a court of law. The CPS are very unlikely to approve a charge in this case.

That's the thing, medical records can prove it. All psychiatrists involved and consultants have said that was the trigger. There is absolutely no evidence of her suffering with this sort of behaviour before the event and she went downhill within 1/2 days. She has been poorly for a long time but it got so severe that she had to be hospitalised. She was poorly that whole time though from those boys terrorising her.

If she already had these issues how can they pinpoint that every thing is put down to this one crime?
Even so, it's a kick in the door, I'm not sure they could charge them with anything even if you have thousands of pages worth of evidence.

Sorry I meant that these issues started after the 3 kicks to the door - literally the next day! And she has a learning disability so it affected her way more than it would someone without an LD.

Because a criminal record for kicking a door sounds extreme, particularly as these lads are under 16.

@RedHelenB It's not for kicking a door though, it would be for ABH. Just found out my dd is being sectioned so they have caused a lot of harm, and they knew she was vulnerable which is an aggravating factor.

And being under 16 shouldn't really come into it. Criminal age of responsibility is 10 so they are well aware that their actions would cause fear and distress.

I agree with @RedHelenB

That's part of my point.

I've never seen someone's mental health problems listed as caused by xyz unless PTSD.

Also, even if it did, no court is going to do anything to a few teenagers kicking a door.

How are things now @Bepis

I appreciate what you are saying but her psychiatrist says otherwise. She has a learning disability and possible autism (which they knew) and has obviously done more damage than it would to you or I. They could be prosecuted as the case meets all the criterion but it's whether the CPS will do it. If not, I will privately prosecute the scum that did this to her.

There have been no more incidents thank goodness but I'm just heartbroken on what has happened to my daughter due to it 😞

All the best and positivity as best as possible, keep going each day at a time, I know that's easier said but you'll get there

@Hawkins003 Thank you, I do appreciate your kind comments.

That's ok, I try to be a good soul

I think that's is going to be the difficulty - being able to show via the psychiatrist that her current health condition is solely down the harassment and not just part of her ongoing health issues.

So - it could be the initial trigger, but is the continuing decline in her mental health attributed to it?

Obviously we all know it is - but can it proven in law.

I hope you DD is getting the help and support she needs and can get through this.

I don't know what to do if I'm honest. Part of me thinks my daughter deserves justice but the other part of me thinks just focus on getting her better and forget about those idiots.

I really don't know what to do for the best.

I was just coming on to say more or less what you have put in your previous post. Right now, your priority has to be your daughter and getting her better. You must be exhausted and are probably looking for a "reason" why this has happened. It may well be that these incidents exacerbated an issue but I remember from your previous threads that your daughter already has problems with anxiety, school refusal etc. In the middle of your trauma with your daughter it is very hard to stand back and see how difficult it would be for the police and CPS to prove that this single incident has caused such psychiatric harm and how much evidence would need to be provided by the consultant etc for CPS to think that they had a realistic chance of prosecution. They are also considering that these are 16 year old boys and weighing up the amount of effort required for a prosecution against the likely outcome, which is a slap on the wrist for the perpetrators. It's not what you want to hear I know but I think you are just using up precious reserves of energy which need to be focused on you and your family right now.

I doubt it would go to court, a couple young boys kicking a door. The court wouldn't waste their time.

@unfortunateevents I do appreciate your kind words, it has helped me to sort my thoughts out.

I completely understand what you are saying about the amount of work involved for the result that would probably be a slap on the wrist. I was also thinking that the psychiatrists job is to help people get better and I don't want to burden her with doing police reports - found out she alone has over 800 patients.

I do still feel angry inside when I see how she is and I do believe that they caused it as she was nothing like this before the event but I keep thinking - it's not going to change anything. What's done is done and prosecuting is not going to make my daughter well again.

She has suffered from anxiety in the past and refused school which was mainly surrounding social situations. How she is now, I've never seen her like this.

I genuinely hope that they don't do this to anyone else 😞