Catapult ban petition to get government response

Catapults are believed to have been used in attacks on vehicles, people and wildlife across the South East

An attempt to ban the sale and carrying in public of catapults is to receive an official response from the government.

The campaign was launched by Danni Rogers from Camberley in Surrey, a volunteer at Shepperton Swan Sanctuary, after dozens of attacks, many fatal, on wildfowl.

A parliamentary petition has collected more than 10,000 signatures, which means the government must now respond.

Attacks on people, vehicles and property have recently been recorded in Kent and Surrey, and a moving train in Cambridgeshire, which Mr Rogers believes has led to a surge in signatures.

"We've had over 5,000 signatures in less than a week, we hit the threshold on Saturday and it's continually rising," he said.

If the number of signatures reaches 100,000 by 27 May the petition will be considered for a debate in Parliament.

An attack in Beddington Park, south London, left one swan dead and another badly injured

Mr Rogers said he hoped the government response would "recognise there is an issue with catapult crime, and not just fall back on saying the current legislation is sufficient".

He said: "The recent attacks on humans and infrastructure has proved that this is escalating, the number of attacks is increasing.

"These are the warnings we've said for the last 18, 24 months, these people get bored, they like to ramp up their targets.

"The biggest part is carrying in public. No-one should be carrying any sort of weapon in public."

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Mr Rogers' campaign already has the support of Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend, who plans to promote it with colleagues across the country.

"It's very easy for the government to fob off members of the public but when you've got multiple police commissioners, in unison, putting something together, that's a definite positive," added Mr Rogers.