Frank McCourt: Ordeal

Frank McCourt endured a three-month legal ordeal while the yob and his gang went unpunished. Last night outraged campaigners attacked the British legal system for persecuting the innocent while yobs are allowed to run rampant. Mr McCourt, 57, took action after a pack of youths hurled stones, sticks, mud and eggs at his house as his wife Maria cowered inside. He called a police hotline – but was kept on hold for 45 minutes. He went out to look for a police officer on the beat – but found none.

This country is going to the dogs and its justice system is a joke. Frank McCourt

So he grabbed one of the yobs and asked his name, telling him he was making a citizen’s arrest. Within minutes police turned up and arrested Mr McCourt, who served for 12 years in Northern Ireland and Somalia. No official action is believed to have been taken against the yobs.

Mr McCourt said: “Those children have got away scot-free. They are the criminals of the future, and they’ve been given the green light to carry on, while I’ve been put through three months of hell. “This country is going to the dogs and its justice system is a joke.” Former Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe said last night: “It tells you everything that is wrong in Britain today. Police operate according to political correctness, and not common sense.”

She was joined in her attack by Tory MP Philip Davies, who said: “The whole of the law is there on the side of thugs and yobs and totally against decent, law-abiding members of the public. “Until we get a criminal justice system that protects decent people and clamps down hard on these yobs, we’re never going to make any headway.

“The police should apologise to this gentleman and instead bring these thugs to justice.” Mr McCourt’s ordeal began on February 17, when he and his wife sat down to dinner and heard a bang on the front window. He went outside to find two boys aged about 11 “going wild in the street, throwing stones, mud and eggs at people’s houses”.

He said: “They were cursing and swearing like I’ve never heard. I managed to catch one of them by the arm, but he started to kick me in the legs. “Maria came outside and told me to leave it, so I let the kid go and told them never to come back here again.”