We must end teen booze culture says mother of fatal "happy slapping" kid

The mum of a 15-year-old girl locked up for drunkenly filming a "happy-slapping" killing last night said her daughter was ensnared by Britain's terrifying culture of teenage boozing. The divorced 33-year-old, speaking after the girl admitted aiding and abetting the manslaughter of Gavin Waterhouse by two teenagers, said: "The whole country must fight this violent and horrific problem. She said: "I suspected my daughter was in with the wrong crowd but you can't keep a teenager locked up. "You can scream and shout for help but little notice is taken until something terrible happens. "Now the whole country is watching and pointing the finger - but what use is that? A man is dead and my daughter is in custody. Surely prevention is better than knee-jerk reactions? "I can't criticise the individual social worker who has been assigned to my daughter but it's the system that has failed."


The court heard the girl was handed a mobile phone by Masters, who was not a friend, and was told: "Video this."
She approached Mr Waterhouse and asked him for money before recording the attack. Afterwards, the attackers showed friends the video footage - even though they were aware their victim had died.

So there you have it. Everyone's fault except the parent. The 'system', the 'culture', the 'social', the supermarkets, alcohol. 'You can't lock them up', says 'student' mum. Really? Well, I've already warned my son that if he get's involved with the 'wrong crowd' and starts any old nonsense two things will happen. Members of the 'wrong crowd' will get a 'visit' from me and he will be chained up in the cellar until he agrees to behave! And he knows I'm not (completely) joking. Ah, Dr Spock, eat ya heart out!