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Police called to Darland Banks nature reserve near Gillingham after reports of attack

A teenager was treated for a minor facial injury after an alleged attack near a nature reserve.

Police were called to Hempstead Road in Gillingham yesterday shortly after 6pm following reports of an assault near the Darland Banks.

The incident is believed to have taken place in the Darland Banks Nature Reserve, near Gillingham Picture: Andy Payton
The incident is believed to have taken place in the Darland Banks Nature Reserve, near Gillingham Picture: Andy Payton

Officers attended along with paramedics and a male victim was treated for a minor facial injury. No arrests were made.

Local resident Roger Vaughan reported two police cars and two ambulances in attendance along Star Lane.

Mr Vaughan, who is a member of the Friends of Ambley Woods group, believes incidents of anti-social behaviour have been on the increase since lockdown.

"We have seen maybe ten times the amount of people using the woods and the banks," he said.

The photographer said the beauty spot has seen a sharp increase in "partying young people" engaging in anti-social behaviour over the last few months.

Roger Vaughan says the area has become increasingly popular during lockdown, particularly among youths Photo: Helen Embley
Roger Vaughan says the area has become increasingly popular during lockdown, particularly among youths Photo: Helen Embley

He recalls coming across a group of six teenage boys aged 15 or 16 when out exercising in the nature reserve around 4pm yesterday.

The local resident said they had been sitting on the banks near Ambley Woods with little mobile barbecues, nitrous oxide cannisters and boxes of beers.

Mr Vaughan says he politely reminded the boys to pick up their items when they left and they had given him assurances they would do.

It comes after he says he picked up more than 300 nitrous oxide cannisters dumped during the last few weeks.

But when he returned to litter pick the area two hours later he saw the boys had abandoned all their rubbish.

Shortly after he heard what seemed to be another group of young people engaged in an "angry confrontation" including two girls.

The original group ran back towards where Mr Vaughan had spotted them and apologised for littering saying they had been "chased away by guys with knives".

The woodland areas of the nature reserve have been littered before Picture: Martin Apps
The woodland areas of the nature reserve have been littered before Picture: Martin Apps

"They seemed very nervous and agitated," he said. "They wanted to get away as quickly as they could."

Last week he recalled a Facebook post to the Darland Banks community page from a concerned mum whose 17 year-old daughter and boyfriend was confronted by two young boys claiming they had knives.

"We have reported this to the police and the councillors and nothing has been done," he said.

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