THE stepmother of a troubled youngster who has been jailed for robbing a shopkeeper says he has been failed by social services.
Stephen Sherwood held up Mehmet Ekinci at knifepoint for cigarettes in the Premier store in Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth.
Sherwood, 18, was jailed for two years and three months by a judge at Bournemouth Crown Court – but the first his father Steve and stepmother Nicky knew about the incident was when they saw the story in the Daily Echo.
“Dorset Social Services have had 50:50 parental responsibility with my husband since 2010.
“They have made decisions on Stephen’s behalf and this is the outcome. He’s been severely let down,” claimed administrator Nicky, 38, of Woodlands near Verwood.
Stephen moved in with the couple, who have another son, when he was younger, but there were behavioural problems from the start.
Nicky said: “I thought: ‘I can turn this child around and show him a stable environment.’ Stephen has always been part of this family. When he came to live with us he would trash his room, kick about, scream, bark like a dog and make funny noises.
“He used to say: ‘I want to kill myself, I wish I was dead’.
“He would clear classrooms of children. Anything in his hand he would throw. He’s a Jekyll and Hyde, not in control of what he is doing.”
Although Stephen was placed in a special school, the couple struggled to get him the help he needed.
“They can’t give a diagnosis. One minute they say he has severe learning difficulties and the next minute they say he’s normal,” said Nicky. “We’ve had meetings, put in complaints and met with the top dogs as county hall.
“All they’ve ever done is try to contain him, not help him. At the last meeting, it was said that he had such complex needs, nothing in the county of Dorset would meet them.”
At 13, Stephen was placed in temporary foster care to try to reform his behaviour.
“He trashed their house and they requested he be moved because they couldn’t deal with him,” she said.
Stephen was sent to a unit in West Moors, but Nicky says the specialised support he was promised never materialised. Stephen absconded and started getting into trouble with the police.
He was sectioned to a secure unit in Exeter then went to live in a care home in Coventry.
Eventually he moved back in with his mother. “We have been cut out of the loop for two years,” said Nicky. “He made contact with us for the first time in over a year two weeks before he was arrested. He was crying his eyes out saying he didn’t know what to do.
“He said he would phone the next day, but he never did.
“We don’t condone what he’s done at all, but we have been let down so much. We’re sick to the stomach that he’s locked up, but glad he’s safe. We hope there are people there that will help him.
“We love him. We haven’t given up on him, but he’s given up on himself. Social services gave up on him a long time ago.”
A spokesman for Dorset County Council said: “We do not comment on individual cases. However, we take our social care responsibilities very seriously and work closely with families to ensure appropriate care and support is provided.”
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