Thirteen children have been arrested after a boy was severely beaten on a train.

The 11-year-old boy was travelling on the Tyne and Wear Metro between Felling and Newcastle Central station when he was assaulted at about 8.20pm last Monday (9 March).

Members of the public came to the boy’s aid during the incident. He got off the train at Newcastle Central station and was taken to hospital for serious but non-life threatening injuries.

The children who were arrested are all aged between 11 and 16. They have been bailed, with conditions restricting them from using the Metro, pending further inquiries.

DI Laura Stabler said: “This was an appalling incident that has understandably caused a lot of public concern and anger.

“As a force we have been working closely with Nexus [the public body that runs the Tyne and Wear Metro] to make the Metro a safe environment for members of the public and we have had lots of success.

“This assault was completely unacceptable and there is no place for this level of violence on the Metro, or in society at all.

“We have been supporting the victim and his family while carrying out extensive inquiries to identify all of those involved.”

“More than a dozen teenagers have now been arrested and interviewed in the presence of an appropriate adult about the circumstances around the assault.

“Those inquiries will continue but we hope these arrests offer some reassurance to those who were concerned about this assault.”

Huw Lewis, customer services director for Nexus, said: “We have extensive CCTV throughout our trains and stations, which we provided to Northumbria police. Our staff are doing everything they can to support this investigation and I am gratified arrests have been made so quickly.

“Metro is a safe way to travel, and incidents this severe are rare. It does underline the need to keep personal security at the top of our priorities. We invest more than £1m a year to pay for special police units on Metro and we have more customer staff than ever working on stations and trains.

“Where young people are involved in crimes and antisocial behaviour we also work with youth services and local authority teams to address the root cause of the problem – identifying ringleaders and using legal powers to ban them from Metro alongside prosecutions.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police on 101 or report it online at the Northumbria police website.

Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.



