Father detains nine-year-old who pulled knife on his son
- Published
The boy's bag contained two mobile phones, a knife and a bag of sweets
A father has described how he kept two nine-year-old boys detained for three hours after one of them pulled a knife on his young son.
Police were called at 13:20 BST on Thursday but officers did not arrive at the home in Braunstone, Leicestershire, until 16:11.
The boys were too young to be arrested but police took them away.
Leicestershire Police said a "safeguarding referral" had been submitted in relation to the boys.
This means a request to the local authority child protection team to intervene to support or protect a child.
Matthew Harrison, the father who detained the boys, thinks they might have intended to steal his nine-year-old son's bike.
"My little boy was playing on the front and a couple of kids jumped over," said Mr Harrison.
"He pulled out a knife from his bag. My lad has just dropped his bike and ran off into the house."
The boys ran off but Mr Harrison chased them down the street.
"I managed to catch up with them and I frogmarched them back," he said.
Mr Harrison kept both of the boys in his garden until police arrived.
In the meantime, he emptied the boy's bag and found it contained the knife, two mobile phones and a bag of sweets.
"He cried a bit when I caught him but he was getting a bit cheeky after a while," said Mr Harrison.
"He didn't seem like he was bothered. The way he was talking you would think he was 15 or 16 years old.
"He didn't seem phased by it at all."
'Advice given'
He believes police should have got to his home more quickly.
However, police said the incident was not treated as an emergency as there was "no current threat of harm".
In a statement, the force said: "During the initial call, the call handler determined the boys had handed the knife to an adult.
"The required response was assessed by the Force Control Room Inspector at 1.27pm, and due to no current threat of harm, it did not require an immediate, emergency response."