- Rebecca Riley, 28, was cleared after being arrested at Ravensworth Primary
A woman, who was arrested in front of other parents at her brother’s school after teachers accused her of punching her sibling, has said she received death threats after the ‘nightmare’ incident.
Rebecca Riley, 28, was handcuffed and taken away from Ravensworth Primary in Bromley, south-east London by police after restraining her autistic nine-year-old brother John in a way she had been taught.
Teachers accused Ms Riley of punching her sibling in the face as she dropped him off at the school at 10am – and by 3.30pm, when she returned to collect him, police were there to arrest her.
Ms Riley, who has eight brothers and sisters, insisted that John had not wanted to go to school that morning and had been hitting her so she ‘hugged him tightly and stroked him’ in a way that worked to calm him down at home.
Police later reviewed the CCTV footage and dropped the case due to ‘insufficient evidence’ on June 11 2023 – two days after the arrest – while Ms Riley was on bail at her friend’s house.
Rebecca Riley (pictured), 28, was handcuffed and taken away from Ravensworth Primary in Bromley, south-east London by police after restraining her autistic nine-year-old brother John in a way she had been taught
Ms Riley, who has eight brothers and sisters, insisted that John (pictured, left) had not wanted to go to school that morning and had been hitting her so she ‘hugged him tightly and stroked him’ in a way that worked to calm him down at home
But despite being cleared by police, she is still banned from the school and is unable to drop off John.
Ms Riley said she has received death threats since being wrongly arrested.
‘I still feel really angry about it,’ she said.
‘That day was a nightmare. John was totally traumatised by it and so was I – and our mum.
‘When they arrested me there were loads of parents there because of clubs after schools. It was horrible.
‘I got death threats from parents and I was horribly bullied because of this.
‘It made my life really difficult. I don’t like to go out alone because of this.
‘I can’t believe they put me through all that because of a silly accusation that wasn’t a bit true.’
Ms Riley added that she wants a public apology but the school has refused.
After she was cleared, Ms Riley spent another week at her friend’s house as she was too worried about what people were saying about her in her local community.
John is now being schooled at home after the incident.
Rebecca said: ‘John gets really upset and he isn’t close to many people but he’s really close to me. I look after him a lot.
Despite being cleared by police, she is still banned from the school and is unable to drop off John
Ms Riley added that she wants a public apology but Ravensworth Primary (pictured) has refused
‘It was awful being separated from him – I texted mum all the time because I missed them so much.’
MailOnline has approached Ravensworth Primary School for comment.
The Metropolitan Police declined to comment.
