HOW my heart went out to 15-year-old Joel James who needed major surgery after being set on by a gang of thugs (September 29).

Last December, our 15-year-old son was walking home in York from a friend's house when two strangers jumped out of a car and attacked him for no reason. These men kicked him, knocked him down, broke his nose, chipped his tooth, blacked both eyes and smashed a glass into his head.

My son's friends alerted my husband and he was able to distract these two until the police came. I didn't recognise my son when I was asked to climb into the ambulance with him, he was covered in blood and looked as though he had been in a car crash.

We were told by the police that they would attempt to put a curfew on the pair to ensure that they were not free to attack anyone else over the Christmas period and to give my son peace of mind as they both live locally. This never materialised and my son often saw one of them on his way to school, making his life very uncomfortable indeed.

We read in the Evening Press in July that the two had pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 12 months in prison but with no order of compensation for the damage to my son's clothing.

We were not invited to attend court nor officially informed. We have since had a visit from a probation officer who tells us the pair will be out of prison in six months' time.

Is this justice? We don't think so. My son feels as though he has been assaulted twice, once by the mindless thugs who attacked him and again by the Crown Prosecution Service which treats its victims so shabbily.

Name and address supplied.

Updated: 10:35 Tuesday, October 02, 2001