A dying teenager, in desperate need of a kidney transplant, has had his jaw and cheekbone fractured by vicious bullies.

Dean Whitaker, 16, who needs dialysis treatment three times a week for his rare and incurable condition, was attacked by two young thugs as he walked near his home.

He was repeatedly punched in the face and one of the attackers kicked him in the body and spat in his face before fleeing.

Dean suffered fractures to the right side of his jaw and left cheekbone, his lips and face were badly swollen and he had bruising to his arms, back and legs.

The teenager's horrified mother, Alison Brame, branded his cowardly attackers as "bullies."

"They want locking up for what they have done and made an example of to stop people doing this sort of thing," she said.

"Dean is very upset and very quiet since this happened. He doesn't want to speak to anybody and doesn't want to go out of the house."

And Mrs Brame, of Bronshill Grove, Allerton, Bradford, criticised the response of police to the assault after she had to badger them for days to take a statement and even had to collect her own evidence.

She handed police CCTV footage of the suspects after obtaining it herself when she became frustrated at the police's lack of action.

"The police have lost all credibility in my eyes," said Mrs Brame. "A terminally-ill boy has his jaw broken and no police officer attends. I had to take my son to the police station and was treated as a second class citizen."

Dean's illness, Crescentric Glomoral Nephritus, makes him very tired, he weighs less than six stones and has to eat and drink through a straw. His bones are weak and he had not been out of the house for months, except to go to hospital, before the attack.

His mother said: "It is a rare condition and there is no cure. He is never going to get better. His kidneys don't work at all and dialysis keeps him alive. He desperately needs a transplant and has been waiting for two years."

Dean had decided to walk to a fish shop in Allerton Road, a few minutes from his home, for his lunch with a friend, 15-year-old Richard Hayward, while his mother was out shopping.

On the way back they stopped at the Co-op supermarket and were then followed down the road by the two suspects.

As the friends walked along a snicket between Allerton Road and Canford Road, Dean was grabbed by one of the youths and punched in the face.

Mrs Brame said: "Richard was shouting at them to leave Dean alone because he is poorly, but then they both were punching him in the face.

"Richard was knocked to the ground and ran for help to the house of a friend, David Smith, nearby. Richard and David approached the snicket and shouted Oy!' and the boys ran off, but one of them kicked Dean in the side, an inch from his kidney, and spat in his face before they left."

The friends took Dean to Bradford Royal Infirmary in a taxi where his mother joined him. She called police and was told an officer would attend as soon as the teenager had been treated.

When no officer had attended by the following night, Mrs Brame took her son to Lawcroft House police station. They were seen by a PC who said he could not take a statement because it was a CID matter. A statement was not taken until Thursday night after Mrs Brame again took her son to the station.

The frustrated mother then went to the Co-op and was given a copy of the CCTV footage of the suspects leaving the store and following Dean, which she supplied to police.

She said: "The police just never get back to you. If someone had stolen some pot plants they would have been doing house-to-house inquiries."

Detective Inspector Noel Devine, of Bradford North CID, said the level of service to the family was not up to the normal standard.

"We are looking into what has gone wrong to make sure it doesn't happen again," he said. "We apologise to the family. However, as soon as the problem was identified, procedures were put in place and the family has been updated."

Det Insp Devine said a 15-year-old boy had been arrested in connection with the incident, which occurred on Sunday, January 14. The boy had been released on bail pending further inquiries. Later, a second youth was arrested and quizzed by detectives.

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