Ben arrests a student for rape

Ben arrests a student for rape
Ben arrests a student for rape

Pc Nate Roberts is still on duty at Deansgate Comprehensive as Safer Schools Officer when he gets a call to say that the home of one of the pupils has been burgled. With teacher Becky James, Nate goes to find the pupil, Rhys Tanner, to tell him what has happened. Rhys, though, is busy making someone else a victim… Rhys and his friend Misti Clements are bullying Lucy Ogden, and her brother, Adam, is trying to protect her. Becky breaks them up and Nate tells Rhys about the burglary. It transpires that Adam could be the burglar but Nate finds the boy badly beaten and Lucy at his side. Adam's taken to hospital and Pc Millie Brown tries to find out from Lucy what happened, but the girl won't talk. Adam, though, is ready to talk and reveals to a stunned DC Jo Masters that he trashed Rhys's house because Rhys raped his sister at a party. Millie questions Lucy, who confirms her brother's story. At the school, however, Misti claims Lucy got drunk and threw herself at Rhys. Nate and Millie question all the teenagers involved and discover a nasty world ruled by peer pressure, bullying and underage sex. As Pc Ben Gayle arrests Rhys, Nate is left wondering if he can do any good at Deansgate School...

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Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.