Source: Daily Mail
- Organisers defend ‘barbaric’ event as ‘perfectly legal’
- Video footage shows children battling on the floor without head guards
- Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemns the underage contests
- Child safety experts call for ban and urge social work to be brought in
- Council to ask club not to stage any more such events involving children
Parents who encourage their young children to take part in cage fighting contests could be jailed for child cruelty, legal experts warn.
They face sentences of up to six months for allowing a boy or girl of primary school age to take part in the sport – described as ‘barbaric’ by the Culture Secretary.
And a Preston social club which hosted the boys’ fight reported in the Mail yesterday is to be investigated over whether it broke its licence conditions.
The revelations come after a video emerged showing Kian MacKinson, nine, and a boy of eight, whose father has requested he remain anonymous, kicking, shoving and grappling in front of baying adults.
The footage caused outrage among child and medical experts, who called for a police and social services investigation.
Read More: Parents of cage-fighting boys aged 8 and 9 could be jailed for child cruelty
Cartoon by Bob Moran
