Teen cautioned for viral 'waterboarding' attack on 15-year-old Syrian refugee
Prosecutors say there is not enough evidence to charge the boy with racially aggravated assault.
Friday 29 March 2019 13:16, UK
A teenage boy will not face court after being filmed attacking a 15-year-old Syrian refugee during a school lunch break.
Video of the incident showed the younger boy being thrown to the ground by his neck and having water poured over his face as he is threatened with drowning at a school in Huddersfield in October.
On Thursday, West Yorkshire Police said the boy had been given a police caution after prosecutors decided there was not enough evidence to charge him with a racially aggravated assault.
The force said in a statement: "The CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] has concluded that there was not sufficient evidence to charge the suspect with a racially aggravated assault and he was given a caution for a section 39 assault."
Police said after they interviewed the boy and decided on a caution, they checked to see if there was a racist motive after getting "further intelligence and evidence".
The statement said the victim's family had been kept informed.
Police said the assault was reported by the victim on 26 October and officers viewed video evidence, which emerged around a month later and was "widely circulated in the media and on social media".
After the footage was shared, an online appeal page to help the teenager and his family raised more than £130,000 in 24 hours, which Theresa May described as the "true spirit of Britain".
Soon after the video was published, the victim said he no longer felt safe at school, telling ITV News: "I woke up at night and just started crying about this problem. They think I'm different - different from them.
"I don't feel safe at school.
"Sometimes I say to my dad, 'I don't want to go to school anymore'. I was just crying and I didn't do nothing because I respect the school rules."
As coverage of the incident grew, the perpetrator accepted responsibility for his actions in a letter to the Sun online, but denied bullying the younger boy.
The teenager, who has not been named, said he and his family had gone into hiding.
In November, video was published of alleged abuse of the 15-year-old victim's sister at school. The family's lawyer Tasnime Akunjee said the 14-year-old girl was wearing a pink hijab when the incident took place.