Cycling UK Forum

Vorpal wrote:I, for one, think that we should let the police investigate and not condemn a *child* for what may be no more than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So what if he was apparently doing something illegal? Would anyone condemn him if the attack has accurred when he was riding a bike on the pavement? I've seen plenty of young people illegally riding motorcycles on the road, on bridleways, and other places they don't belong in rural areas. Would they be similarly condemned, if attacked in the same way?

As for the gun gesture, lots of kids who aren't in gangs do that. And he was said to be an aspiring boxer; maybe he just wanted to be perceived as a 'tough'.

Lastly, there are perfectly legitimate reasons for a kid that age to be out doing things. Mini V does art and music after school on Thursdays, and takes the bus home afterwards. She usually gets home around 9:00 pm, but if she helps tidy up afterward, or the buses are delayed, she has come home as late as 9:30. She's 12. Would it be her fault if she were the victim of crime?

Would anyone's opinion be different, if the media only published pictures of him in a school uniform and a bland background? If he were white? or came from a rural village?

The world will never know what this child could have contributed. That's a tragedy.

RIP Jayden Moody.

100%JR wrote:

Mick F wrote:

mercalia wrote:He was only 14 for God's sake. Where were his parents and why wasn't he at home?

I can walk around to my local Co-op at 21:45 and there's usually a small gang of lads and lasses,all school age,some of them my sons age(11)hanging about.I'm willing to bet the same happens all over the place.Some parents either don't know or don't care where their kids are.

Oldjohnw wrote:

. mercalia wrote:
I would like to know about where he got the moped from whether it was stolen.
What I find strange about all this terrible affair, is that the moped hasn't been mentioned or explained and why a 14yo boy was riding one.

I suppose it pales into insignificance as far as the news people are concerned, but I think it should be mentioned that a 14yo boy was riding a moped on the roads of London in the early January darkness of an evening when he should have been at home.

I guess the priority, reasonably IMV, is to catch the (older) murderous thugs who killed the child.

mercalia wrote:seems to be MISQUOTE MERCALIA DAY? Get it right

Mick F wrote:

Oldjohnw wrote:I guess the priority, reasonably IMV, is to catch the (older) murderous thugs who killed the child.

Yes.
Totally correct, and right too.

Meanwhile, the press could keep people informed of the wider view and maybe - just maybe - some people with influence could discuss this issue.

We had R4 on this lunchtime, and there was a head teacher saying how some children are crying at school because they are hungry.
They have a breakfast club ......... (Mrs Mick F ran the local school Breakfast Club before she retired BTW) ........ but some children can't make it early enough, so they feed them later. What sort of society allows children to go hungry? We have an awful issue in this country - the fifth largest economy in the world but with complete inequality top to bottom. Maybe it was forever thus, but for God's sake, this is 2019 and children are hungry, getting into trouble, being stabbed to death, and NOTHING is done or discussed. Sod Brexit! Get this inequality sorted out!
Bloody obscene Range Rovers and BMWs on the roads driven by rich fat cats, with children hungry on the streets, getting into trouble and being killed.
Stop HS2 and feed the children, have decent school and decent education and decent health.

Rant over.

100%JR wrote:
1.The Police stated it was a targetted attack,not random,not wrong place wrong time but targetted
2.The Police are also treating it as gang related.

For now I'm erring towards believing what the Police are saying.

Vorpal wrote:I haven't forgotten anything. Just because it was targetted doesn't mean Jayden did anything wrong. First of all he may merely have done something that offended a gang member, who decided violence was a good way to resolve the situation. I knew of a boy who was beaten unconscious because he asked a girl for date. The girl's boyfriend got some mates together and cornered him after school. That was targetted, too.
The police are investigating *whether* it was gang related. Even the Daily Mail doesn't go further than that https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ondon.html
Lastly, even if it is gang related, he is still likely to have been a victim as much as anything.

Vorpal wrote:Lastly, even if it is gang related, he is still likely to have been a victim as much as anything.

Oldjohnw wrote:

anyone's opinion be different, if the media only published pictures of him in a school uniform and a bland background? If he were white? or came from a rural village?

The world will never know what this child could have contributed. That's a tragedy.

RIP Jayden M

Hear hear!

Too much focus on 'bet he had a knife' or 'he must have stolen the car' or the way he wore his helmet or whether it was 'his' or 'a' moped. All speculation and no matter how good the guesses they are only guesses.

Thank goodness our courts judge on facts not guesses, however reasonable.

Vorpal wrote:Absent dad has nothing to do with this.
And there is no evidence that he wasn't loved and cherished.
Speculation doesn't help anyone.

100%JR wrote:

Vorpal wrote:I haven't forgotten anything. Just because it was targetted doesn't mean Jayden did anything wrong. First of all he may merely have done something that offended a gang member, who decided violence was a good way to resolve the situation. I knew of a boy who was beaten unconscious because he asked a girl for date. The girl's boyfriend got some mates together and cornered him after school. That was targetted, too.
The police are investigating *whether* it was gang related. Even the Daily Mail doesn't go further than that https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ondon.html
Lastly, even if it is gang related, he is still likely to have been a victim as much as anything.

I wish I could look at it with the same compassion as you but unfortunately I can't.I hope I'm proved wrong but I'm not holding my breath.

Vorpal wrote:Absent dad has nothing to do with this.

And there is no evidence that he wasn't loved and cherished.

Speculation doesn't help anyone.

al_yrpal wrote:

Vorpal wrote:Absent dad has nothing to do with this.

And there is no evidence that he wasn't loved and cherished.

Speculation doesn't help anyone.

Doesn't it even occur to you that you are speculating too? Doh!

What's your suggestion?

Al