Met Police clear Bromley woman after primary school arrest

Rebecca Riley, 28, said she had faced abuse in the street after police placed her under arrest at Ravensworth Primary School in Mottingham following a mistaken allegation by a teacher.

“I get quite a few sly dig remarks made about me, like, ‘Criminal’,” she said.

“I’m not a criminal. I’ve done nothing wrong. The police have verified that.”

Rebecca was cleared by police within two days, after they checked CCTV footage.

But while she was arrested in front of “a playground full of parents and children”, she said, she was cleared in private – leaving the community to continue believing she had attacked a little boy.

Rebecca said people who witnessed her arrest have since abused her in the street, calling her a criminal, and her younger siblings have been left terrified that she will be taken away from them (Image: Charles Thomson)

Despite being cleared, Rebecca said the school had refused to apologise for the incident and continued to ban her from its grounds.

She said she wanted her story told in the News Shopper so the community would know she had been cleared.

Arrest

Rebecca’s 10-year-old brother (then aged nine) has behavioural issues linked to autism.

On Friday, June 9, the school rang home to report an incident. Rebecca attended at around 11am.

Rebecca was arrested at Ravensworth Primary School, Mottingham, after a teacher thought they saw her strike her younger brother - but police later confirmed she didn't (Image: Charles Thomson)

That was when a teacher claimed she saw Rebecca hit her little brother in the face.

When she returned to the school around four hours later to collect her brother, police were waiting to arrest her.

Her brother was taken by social workers and Rebecca was marched to the back of a police car in front of dozens of witnesses, then transported to a cell at Bromley police station.

When police eventually interviewed her and played CCTV of the alleged incident, she said it clearly showed her brother hitting her, not the other way around.

“It was him hitting me because he didn’t want to go back to school,” she said. “All I did was hold his hands.”

Rebecca was marched to the back of a police vehicle in front of the school community, then held in a cell at Bromley Police Station (Image: Google Streetview)

Rebecca was released on bail but banned from going home. She had to stay with a friend.

Her brother consistently told police the same thing Rebecca said was clear from the CCTV – that she had not hit him.

Banned

Just two days into her month-long bail period, Rebecca was cleared of any wrongdoing and allowed to return home.

“Following a review of CCTV and speaking to others involved, there was no evidence of an offence being committed and she was released with no further action,” the Met Police confirmed to the News Shopper.

But while the police ordeal was over quickly, it had lasting consequences, said Rebecca.

She said people continue to abuse her in the street and her younger siblings have been left very disturbed.

“I can’t even go out without the kids going, ‘We’re coming’, because they’re scared I’m going to either get arrested again or I’m not going to come back,” she said.

Rebecca said she wanted an apology from Ravensworth Primary School and to be allowed back onto the grounds - but the school has refused to agree to either (Image: Charles Thomson)

Weeks after she was cleared, Rebecca received a letter – dated June 9 – banning her “indefinitely” from the school grounds in light of the already disproven assault allegation.

The letter said: “The ban is supported by the police.”

No apology

But according to Rebecca, the detective in her case apologised profusely for her arrest.

“She was going, ‘Sorry for all the trauma we’ve caused you lot and all the grief we’ve caused the kids’,” Rebecca said.

She said the detective had assured her that the police only supported the ban during the investigation.

The Met did not dispute that claim when asked by the News Shopper.

Rebecca does not blame the police for what happened, saying she would have been “concerned” if they didn't investigate such an allegation.

Ravensworth Primary School said it had not taken the decision to ban Rebecca from its grounds lightly - but would not say why the ban remained in place, despite police clearing her of the alleged assault (Image: Charles Thomson)

But she is upset that the school arranged for her to be arrested in such a public, humiliating way.

She has asked for an apology and for the ban to be lifted, she said, but the school has refused.

Ravensworth Primary School told the News Shopper: “We value the positive relationships forged with our parents, carers and visitors.

“Any decision to withdraw a parent or a carer’s right to access the school is not taken lightly.”

It added that the account given by Rebecca contained “a number of factual inaccuracies”.

We asked the school what the alleged inaccuracies were.

It did not answer.