March 27, 2007
Exclusive: Parents buying body armour for children after teen murders
The jackets are specifically designed to fit children and cost hundreds of pounds

(David Bebber/The Times)

The jackets are specifically designed to fit children and cost hundreds of pounds
Adam Fresco

Scores of worried parents are buying body armour for their children in a desperate attempt to keep them safe as street violence escalates.

A firm that supplies stab- and bullet-proof vests to government agencies around the world has sold 60 jackets, at a cost of between £300 to £425, to concerned parents who have flooded the company with inquiries after several murders of teenagers on London streets.

The company has received more than 100 calls from parents in the capital over the past few weeks. The company, VestGuard UK, usually gets one or two calls of this type per year.

The fatal stabbings of Adam Regis, killed three days after 16-year-old Kodjo Yenga, are the latest in a series of violent incidents involving teenagers in recent months.

One mother, whose 13-year-old daughter goes to a school where a pupil has been shot to death, has saved up to buy her child of the best vests available after she was targeted by a gang of older girls. She is now saving up for another vest for her 11-year-old daughter who has also been abused by the gang.

Too scared to give her or her daughter’s real name, the woman, a chemical engineer, explained why she felt she had to resort to buying body armour.

“My daughter is being attacked by girls who are much older than her and the problem is continuing. I have never seen them with a knife but you never know when they are going to use a gun or knife until it is too late.

“The vest is very expensive and we do not have a lot of money but I have no choice. My daughter has been attacked five times in a few weeks and I would rather be safe than sorry.

“I cannot let my child go out and be killed. I will do anything I can do defend her. She does not like wearing the vest and says it is heavy but I force her to wear it - I said ‘life comes first’.

The mother has been to the police but nothing has happened. “They are really busy and I know that and by the time they get here the gang has gone. I am now consulting a solicitor and will go to my MP."

Shaun Ward, the sales director at VestGuard UK, said that the volume of calls had been unprecedented.

“We sell body armour to the Ministry of Defence police, foreign office, embassy protection teams and specialised police units around the world but in the past several weeks parents have started getting in touch with us asking to buy vests for their children.

“They are concerned by what is happening on the streets - the level of violence. A 13-year-old girl has been our youngest customer but most are about 15 or 16. Most of the calls have been from London.

“The 13-year-old’s mother bought the most expensive vest we have, it will stop a bullet from a 45 Magnum but it is the lightest one we have.

“We have a factory in Bolton and since Christmas we have been making really small vests that have a 28” chest and weigh 800 grams. The children have been mostly boys, but there are a few girls.”

The firm, who have sales of £31 million a year, say the light stab-proof vests will stop anything up to the force of a crossbow. A kevlar soft armour plate is put into the vests, the level of safety they provide depends on how much you spend. The cheapest version will stop any knife attack while the higher end will stop a bullet from any handgun or sub-machine gun.

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The parachutes for people working in highrises, a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist. And further more, wouldn't said backpack qualify as body armor? Civilians aren't allowed to own body armor most places that I know of.

Edit: And oh yeah, rifle bullets my ass. I find that claim suspect, although I guess a .22 is technicaly a rifle.