EDITOR'S VIEW: Shock South Shields attack sparks call for kindness

Readers will have been repelled by the shocking images of a young girl being attacked in a South Shields park while jeering youngsters filmed the assault on their phones.

As we revealed in an exclusive interview with her mum Julie West, 12-year-old Lilli-Rose was thankfully not seriously injured in the attack, but her mum was understandably devastated by the incident.

What parent wouldn’t be?

It would be easy to dismiss the attack as a sign that society is going to hell in a handcart, but it was heartening to see a more positive and empathetic response from the community.

Angie Comerford, a true champion in the South Tyneside community thanks to her work with the Hebburn Helps charity, reached out to Julie on seeing the attack online. Her aim? Well, in her words, ‘to spread some kindness.’

In a video appeal through the Gazette, both Julie and Angie gave, despite the emotional rawness of the situation, a measured, thoughtful and heartfelt response.

Their call was for peace and, in particular, for parents to be more aware of what their children are up to when out of their sight.

Angie said: “I’m not blaming parents because you can get some amazing parents whose kids go off the rails and vice-versa.

“I feel like there needs to be more education around this kind of thing, there shouldn’t be violence. I think the children involved in incidents like this need to try and think about if it was the other way round and they were the ones being attacked or bullied.

“Young girls especially need to be educated in learning that we are all sisters at the end of the day.”

The strength of a community is not only how it treats its most vulnerable members but on its response to adversity.

Moments like this test a community. And as Julie and Angie have shown, strength is not found in anger - but in how we choose to respond.