The Argus:

By Amelia Blakey

West Sussex is well known as being one of the safest places to live. However, this sense of safety and comfort can lull us into a false sense of security which is why it is easy to forget the dangers of the things that we take for granted.

In central Horsham last week, a boy was viciously mugged on a busy main road. It happened at 18:20 on Wednesday the 15th of November on North Parade one of the busier roads in town.

The 11 year old boy, who remains anonymous, was violently pushed onto down the ground and had his phone, and what little money he had on him taken. What makes this attack so horrific, is how an adult has perpetrated this crime against a child. On social media parents have been commenting and saying how they don’t let their children walk there anymore. Police are currently appealing for witnesses and believe the suspect was male, in his early twenties and was wearing blue jeans and a black belt. He was said to run off in the direction of town after the attack.

In West Sussex people are under the assumption that just because we live in a very safe place it means that you are unlikely to be affected by crime. However, as this unfortunate incident shows, anyone can be affected by crime. I myself have a little brother and he knows the boy who was the victim in this particular incident and this has reminded people in the local area that “safe” is a relative term and to take the precautions that everyone should take across the country.

If you have any relevant information, you can contact the police via their website: https://sussex.police.uk/contact-us/ or by calling the telephone number 101.