Teenager who kicked elderly man into River Mersey says ‘sorry’

Last month, we reported that an elderly man had been kicked into the River Mersey by a group of laughing teenagers.

The youths responsible were quickly apprehended by police and now, one of the teenagers has issued a public apology for his actions.

The incident happened at the back of the Riverside Retail Park in Warrington on Sunday, April 25th, with the seventy-four-year-old victim Gordon Bradbury saying he had ‘just wanted to go fishing on a sunny day’.

However, as he stood facing the river, he was approached from behind by two teenagers, one of whom kicked him forcefully into the river as his friends filmed and laughed.

Gordon was thankfully rescued by two teenage girls, Chloe Woods and Ellie Hughes, who happened to be walking past the river when they heard someone shout for help.

Describing the incident, Chloe told ITV News: “We were walking past and we heard these people going, ‘help, there’s a man there’, so me and Ellie quickly saw him and just dropped our stuff and went and quickly helped him and pulled him out of the river.”

“He was in a bad state. He was hanging on to a branch, he had hold of my hand and he was saying ‘can you help me?”

“I asked him if he wanted any help but he said no for an ambulance so we just helped him out and cleaned him up and all the blood off his face.”

In the days following the attack, eighteen year old Benjamin Bridgeman and a fifteen year old boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – were arrested and charged for the attack, Cheshire Police confirmed.

And today, Benjamin has publicly spoken for the first time. 

The teen recorded a video apology after pleading guilty to assaulting the man. He was also approached coming out of Warrington Magistrates Court yesterday by ITV where he gave another apology.

He said: “Obviously I’m very sorry and that, you know, it wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t realise he was seventy-four years old.”

“Obviously everyone makes mistakes in life. Do you know what I mean? That’s the honest truth from the bottom of my heart.”

His mum also expressed her support for her son, saying: “For me, I want the elderly gentleman to get better because my son’s not a rogue.”

“It was something that he did, stupidly, at the minute and nobody wants the fella. What’s the word? Suffer. So for me, all I want is for that man to just get his life back because it shouldn’t have happened.”

The two teenagers are due back in court to be sentenced in June.