Street ‘rangers’ assaulted my black son, says ex-No 10 aide

A FORMER No 10 adviser demanded a review of private security guards yesterday after her black 15year- old son was pinned down and handcuffed in a Superdrug store.

Kirsty Buchanan made the appeal after a video of her son being restrained went viral on social media.

The teenager – later arrested by police in Chichester, West Sussex, on suspicion of assault – was ‘sat on’ by the guards, she claimed.

Ms Buchanan said of the video: ‘This is my 15-year-old black son who was followed while he shopped for shampoo by two council workers called rangers. He was assaulted by them, then sat on and handcuffed by them. When Sussex Police arrived, guess who they arrested?’

Superdrug said women shop assistants were assaulted and the branch had to be closed because of damage caused during the incident on Wednesday afternoon.

The two guards are ‘rangers’ from a company called Blayde Security and employed by the Chichester Business Improvement District. The BID was set up in 2012 and funded by local business-rate payers to ‘ invest in local improvements’, says its website.

It said the rangers act as ‘the eyes and ears on the street and a reassuring presence for those in the front line of petty crime’. Sussex Police are now investigating and said a boy of 15 from Worthing and a 16-year-old boy from Chichester were arrested on suspicion of assault. Ms Buchanan claimed to the Daily Mirror that the rangers were aggressive towards her son and his friends, saying: ‘What I have been told is the ranger pushed him and my son pushed back... they put plastic handcuffs on him.’

Ms Buchanan, a former political editor at the Sunday Express and an ex-adviser to Theresa May and Liz Truss, said she did not hear from her son for an hour and a half while he was being held at Worthing Police Station.

She later revealed that he was released at 1.15am yesterday. She has urged the BID to contact her about the apparent behaviour of the rangers, telling it on Twitter: ‘You surely cannot condone the way they have treated my son?’

She added that she was calling for a national review of the role of private security guards.

Superdrug said: ‘Female staff were assaulted. We have a zerotolerance policy when it comes to violence and aggression.’

Chichester BID and Blayde Security said they were also ‘cooperating fully with police’.

The BID added: ‘We take this very seriously. We want to reassure traders, residents and visitors to Chichester that we are committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all.’

‘Our female staff were assaulted’