Contribution
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Desmond. I congratulate the hon. and gallant Member for Spelthorne (Lincoln Jopp) on securing this very important debate, on his eloquent speech setting out the dimensions of the problem, and on his incredible detective work to out the mystery participants in the Home Office meeting of a month ago—well done on that. However, to be serious, shocking incidents involving catapults, of the sort that he outlined and we have all seen, have been on the rise in my constituency.
Just over a year ago, I began to receive reports of catapults being used at Darenth Village Park, with both wildlife and property targeted, which I passed on to the police. Early this year, I received worried emails and Facebook posts from people living around St Clements Lakes in Greenhithe reporting numerous incidents of catapult use to hurt or kill birds at the lake. In March, I undertook a walkabout around the area with local police, who told me that they knew where this was taking place but felt they lacked the necessary powers to tackle it properly. The situation escalated further, with a disturbing incident in which a woman and her young children were threatened with catapults after challenging a group of teenagers targeting wildlife at the lakes—there was widespread local media coverage of the incident.
I have also seen—I would not recommend that anyone looks them up—videos taken from TikTok showing predominantly young men, sometimes being encouraged by older men, using catapults to kill wildlife, birds, rabbits and squirrels. The videos are then posted on social media. There is clearly a disturbing trend of growing cruelty towards defenceless wildlife, and sometimes there is a link to social media.
As other Members have said, make no mistake that people are at risk too. King’s College hospital maxillofacial surgeon, Jonas Osher, said that he has recently treated serious injuries to patients inflicted by catapults. He sees catapult victims who have lost their vision as a result of a projectile lodging in their eye socket, and says that
“if you’re unlucky, it could hit you in the thinnest part of your skull…and cause a brain haemorrhage.”
Recognising the problem, I applaud the initiative taken by Kent police over the summer to send a letter to schools across Kent asking them to work with parents to stop their children leaving home with a catapult, but that is not enough. Through my work on this issue, I have had a chance to meet Carly Ahlen, a local wildlife expert, and her fellow campaigners Christopher and Joelle, who shared evidence they have collated on how widespread the issue is. I am grateful to them for their tenacious work cataloguing incidents and patrolling parks to try to deter them.
I recently organised a local residents’ meeting to discuss policing in Darenth—a general meeting to discuss anything that residents were concerned about. They reported their increasing fear of catapult crime specifically, including damage to cars and other property, and worry that they personally would be hit by a projectile.
I hope that on the strength of the mounting evidence that catapult use is a serious risk in Dartford and many other communities in different parts of the country, the Home Office will look carefully at opportunities to strengthen the ability of police to confiscate catapults, in particular from under-18s. The suggestion that catapults should be added to the list of offensive weapons is sensible, because it would enable police to do that while ensuring that the small number of legitimate uses—such as in the sport of angling and recreational use—are protected.
I thank the Minister for meeting me and my hon. Friend the Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey (Kevin McKenna) earlier in the autumn to discuss the issue. I am sure that she will have noted the concern expressed in this debate from across the country—from Northern Ireland, Scotland, London and the south-east, including Kent, Surrey and Hampshire—and the reports of similar problems in Warwickshire. Let us take forward the action we need to address this rising source of cruelty and fear in our communities.