German schoolboy pays £15,000 to child bullies

A 10-year-old German boy stole nearly €17,000 (£14,700) from his parents to pay off a series of schoolboy bullies. The boy's ordeal started in March, when a 12-year-old threatened to send his elder brother to attack the younger child if he did not pay.

"Because the older brother is known not to be a softie, the boy was really frightened and always delivered the money," said a police spokesman in Aalen, the town in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg where the boy lives. One tormentor threatened to send an elder brother to attack him if he did not pay, another sought “protection money” and a third blackmailed the child, demanding cash to keep quiet about the affair.

"Although they do not all go to the same school, they all live in the same place," said the police spokesman. But he said the boys did not act as a group. "It was blackmailing by individuals," he said. Police said the offenders were 11 and 12 and could not be charged because they were under the legal age of responsibility.

"The victim's parents kept large amounts of cash at home. It is difficult to imagine, but the parents did not notice the disappearance of the money," the spokesman said. Only a fraction of the cash has been found; the children spent the rest on computer games, clothes and shoes, police said.