Teens collapse drunk

Up to 80 teenagers are meeting for drunken open-invitation parties in Newark area parks and woodlands.

Police warn girls as young as 14 are drinking to the point of passing out, leaving them vulnerable and at risk of sexual assault.

In a recent incident a boy collapsed after consuming a litre of vodka and cans of strong lager.

The paramedic who tended him in Newark Library Gardens called for police help as he faced abuse from the boy’s aggressive friends.

The officers who attended confiscated bags of alcohol.

In another incident, youths threw stones at the library after staff complained about rowdy behaviour at 6pm one evening.

Newark police receive reports of assaults, criminal damage and anti-social behaviour.

As well as the Library Gardens, the parties, advertised as Camp Outs on the social networking site Facebook, take place at Friary Gardens, Sherwood Avenue Park and at Collis Close in Newark, and at Balderton and in woods at Fernwood.

Safer Neighbourhood policing teams have changed their shifts to be on duty at the problem times of Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Sergeant Simon Brooks, of Newark Police, said: “These Camp Outs can involve 40 to 80 teenagers and are open-invitation.

“There are many instances reported nationally and locally of how such parties advertised on Facebook have ended in tragedy, simply because there is no control over who attends.

“Children are turning up and drinking for hours until they can’t consume any more.

“The inhibitions of young impressionable underage girls are being lowered by alcohol to the point they are susceptible to inappropriate sexual behaviour and leaving themselves vulnerable to sexual assault.

“Boys and girls run the risk of getting a criminal record for anti-social behaviour they would never consider when sober.

“Parents don’t know the reality of what their children are up to. They may say that they’re spending the night at a friend’s when the reality is they are out all night at one of these gatherings.

“Parents have to be more intrusive in their questioning of their children before something serious happens.

“A lot of these young people are good children from good homes who are risking their futures because they are running with a bad minority crowd and being led astray.

“It is not unusual for us as police officers to attend and find them collapsed or being sick in bushes.”

Sergeant Brooks said Newark was a designated public place, which permits the confiscation of alcohol from anyone, adults too, if it is suspected they are either supplying to the underage or engaged in drunken or anti-social behaviour.

“We can, have, and will continue to take their alcohol from them and make every effort to discover where it is coming from,” he said.

Anyone with information on the supply of alcohol or the parties can call Newark Police on 101.