Police pull the plug on '˜planned'internet brawl

Officers became aware of possible problems after details of an intended scrap were published on the social networking site Facebook, to which their attention was drawn by the schools allegedly involved.

A confrontation between some students from Hillcrest School, Hastings, and others from Bexhill High School was apparently set for around 7pm.

But police officers met a train arriving from Hastings at Bexhill railway station and stopped and searched all youths alighting from it.

Among them were five Hillcrest pupils, aged 15 and 16, all of whom were allowed into Bexhill after being spoken to by police officers.

But some 45 minutes late, more than 50, mostly local, youths converged on nearby Devonshire Square and confronted the five youths spoken to earlier by police.

Sgt Tricia Reeve-Fowkes, who was among officers present, said: “There was a lot of shouting going on as we monitored the situation.

“Several police units attended and the Hillcrest pupils were returned to the railway station and boarded a train back to Hastings.”

Sgt Reeve-Fowkes added: “Thankfully there was no fight, no one was assaulted, no damage occurred and the youths all disbanded and went their own ways.

“It seemed most of the youths present had seen details of the fight on Facebook, and had turned up just to see it for themselves.”

Mike Conn, principal of Bexhill High School, said staff had picked up on a rumour about a possible confrontation and had alerted the schools’ police liaison officer as a precaution.

He had not “read the riot act” as a result of the incident - in which he stressed no fight had actually taken place - but instead had “quietly let it be known that such behaviour would not be tolerated”.

Mr Conn said: “Anyone who gets involved in what amounts to incitement will be permanently excluded from this school.”

He added: “I think this does show the problems we sometimes face with internet sites, as the power they have can be negative as well as positive.”

Philippa Gasson, acting head at Hillcrest, said staff there had also latched on to rumours of a planned fight and had notified police.

She added: “Anything that affects the good reputation of the school is taken very seriously and we are dealing with this as an internal matter.”

• In a separate incident in Bexhill on Friday night, vandals attacked plant stands placed outside a shop in Sackville Road by the owners of flats above.

Bushes were ripped from the stands and hurled into the road, and a stone believed to have come from one of the stands was used to smash a window in a nearby flat.

Sgt Tricia Reeve-Fowkes condemned the damage and said: “The bushes have been restored to the plant stands and may recover.

“It’s a shame that we’re now going to have to speak to the owners to suggest they are permanently removed because it’s more than likely they will be ripped out again and the stones used as missiles.”