A mother has spoken out after her son was assaulted during a bullying incident in a Hatfield park earlier this month.

On August 1, between 6.30pm and 7pm, a seven-year-old boy was reportedly bullied by a group of older children in Roe Hill Park in Briars Lane.

The group was made up of two boys and a girl, aged around 10 to 12 years old, and the girl also had a toddler with her.

One of the boys - described as having brown hair and wearing a hoody - took the victim’s shoes and put them in a bin. He then continued to run away with the victim’s hat, including putting it in a tree.

The victim managed to get his belongings back, but the same boy then squished blackberries onto his face, causing him further distress.

Sergeant Christopher Bignell said: “This was really nasty behaviour and left the child understandably upset.

“Thankfully, we’ve not received any similar reports of this nature in the park but we are carrying out a thorough investigation and would like to speak to the children involved and their parents or carers.”

Speaking to the Welwyn Hatfield Times, the child’s mother, who asked to remain anonymous, revealed her son has been left ‘troubled’ by the incident and encouraged anyone who saw the incident to contact the police.

“Our son was playing in the park with his older brother when he was assaulted by an older boy in a hoody,” she said.

“Another lad was with him, but he didn’t do anything to stop the assault. Our eldest son was too scared to do anything as he thought he would have been beaten up. They also appeared to be with a teenage girl accompanied by a girl of less than five years old approximately.

“Since this happened, just over two weeks ago, both of my sons, but especially my youngest, have been troubled. They didn’t deserve it and really don’t understand why anyone can be so unkind.

“If anyone has any information at all, please do contact the police as no child should be bullied in this horrible way.”

You can also visit herts.police.uk/report, speak to an operator via online web chat at herts.police.uk/contact or call the non-emergency number 101, quoting crime reference 41/59617/21.

Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at crimestoppers-uk.org.