A YOUNG lad was left devastated after a knife-wielding nine-year-old threatened to stab him in a packed Poole park.

Police officers rushed to Haskells Recreation Ground, Parkstone, in the aftermath of the menacing incident, but later admitted their hands were tied as the alleged offender was too young to be prosecuted.

Now the 10-year-old victim, Jai White, from Haskells Road, has been left wondering if the boy will carry out his threats.

Jai’s mum Liz White explained: “It is fair to say my son doesn’t take a lot of nonsense from people, and over the past year tensions between him and this other lad have been running high.

“Jai told me this lad confronted him at the recreation ground and said ‘Are you going to be friends with me?’ “When Jai answered ‘No’, he said the lad pulled out the knife and said ‘Now are you going to be friends with me?’”

Mrs White, who said the knife was a pocket or pen knife, added: “Jai told me that the lad then warned if he told anyone about it, he was going to stab him.”

After Jai ran home his worried mum called the police and they quickly launched a search for the nine-year-old.

By the time they found him, he did not have a knife in his possession.

Mrs White said: “Now I have the worry about letting Jai back to the park to play in case this lad follows up on his threat.

“My son was more upset when the police came round to update us and basically said the lad couldn’t be punished further because he was under the age of criminal responsibility.

“I teach my son that if you do something wrong you have to face the consequences, so he was left asking ‘Mummy, why is he not being punished?’”

“My son was devastated,” said Mrs White. “He just sat there sobbing his heart out. It wasn’t a huge knife, but a blade is still a blade. He was more upset by the fact the lad could not be punished than being threatened.”

A Dorset Police spokesman confirmed officers attended Haskells Recreation Ground last Thursday around 5pm.

The spokesman told the Daily Echo: “We received a report, officers attended and located the child in question. He was given strong words of advice in the presence of his parents.”