I am writing in response to your report regarding the CCTV footage of a fight in Churchill Square (The Argus, March 26).

I would like to make the public aware of a couple of important points in your article which are incorrect.

Firstly, the group of youths which descended on Churchill Square on this particular evening are not all members of the Yung Ofenderz gang. In fact, many of the youths had come over from Eastbourne.

Secondly, eight youths were arrested after the fight. Two were released without charge, four pleaded guilty and two pleaded not guilty.

Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper should make sure he gets his facts right before saying "they should throw the book at them", because the four youths who pleaded guilty, three of whom had no previous convictions, did have "the book thrown at them" in court and are now serving custodial sentences.

Perhaps rather than throwing the book at these youths, the Government might like to look at ways of giving them an outlet for their boredom, frustration or anger or whatever it is that drives them to commit these crimes.

Perhaps there should be funding for locally run youth clubs to give them somewhere to socialise and keep them off the streets.

In case you are wondering who I am, I am the mother of one of the boys who is now serving a six-month prison sentence for his crime.

I am not proud of his actions and in no way do I condone what he did but, believe me, he is paying a high price for his actions and I can assure you he is extremely sorry and ashamed of his behaviour.

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