Primary school children aged as young as eight shouted ‘get your t**s out’ and ‘suck my d**k’ over the fence at a young woman sunbathing in her own garden.
Hollie Hardy, 26, of Wickford, Essex, was wearing a bikini in her garden which backs onto the school when a group of pupils climbed up the fence and spotted her.
The children, thought to be aged between eight and 11 years old, then launched a tirade of sexual remarks after one of them was heard to say: ‘Oh there’s a sexy lady.’
They shouted phrases including ‘get your m***e out’, ‘bend over’, ‘I’ll take you home’, ‘suck my corey’, ‘suck my d**k’ and ‘get your t**s out’ while making sexual noises.
The business development manager, who has lived at her home for 11 years, said she was shocked by the abuse and started to record it – later posting a clip on TikTok.
An off-duty Metropolitan Police officer, who is one of her neighbours, heard what was happening and quickly raised the alarm with a nearby adult from the school.
Miss Hardy received a written apology via email, but said the incident showed a wider issue of young boys being exposed to misogynistic and sexually explicit content.
She was left shocked by the graphic nature of the remarks last Wednesday – and her TikTok video, which did not show the children, has now received 500,000 views.
Miss Hardy, who had wanted to top up her tan by sunbathing after returning from holiday, said: ‘It is worrying to think they’re losing their innocence so young.
‘You have to think – how are they learning this stuff and what kind of people will they grow up to be? How are they going to speak to women in ten years’ time?’
She said she sometimes had footballs land in her garden but had never had any behaviour as bad as the comments.
Explaining what happened, Miss Hardy said: ‘A football came over into the neighbour’s garden and the one of the children pulled themselves up over the school’s fence.
‘He said ‘Oh there’s a sexy lady’ and it just escalated from there. They started saying ‘get your m***e out’ and ‘get your t**s out’.
‘I sat up in my chair and I thought ‘hang on a minute they’re talking to me’. I didn’t want to interact with them, or look at them, because I know children find these things funny so I went on my phone.
‘My neighbour, who is an off duty police officer, heard it going on. He flashed his badge at the children and they ran off.’
The neighbour then flagged down a nearby adult from the school and raised the situation – explaining that it was sexual harassment.
The woman, who identified herself as a safeguarding officer, said she would speak to the children – but they then came back.
Miss Hardy, who was wearing a bandeau bikini, said: ‘They said things like ‘suck my corey’, ‘suck my d**k’, ‘bend over’ and ‘I’ll take you home’. Another child was making sex noises.
‘I decided to film it and it felt like it went on forever. They kept running away and coming back. Eventually, during a gap when they’d left, I ran inside and went to the school myself.’
She said she showed staff the video who were ‘appalled’ and promised to speak with those involved. She also received a written apology via email.
But Miss Hardy said the incident was a symptomatic of a wider issue.
She explained: ‘I have a niece who will be starting school soon and I’m worried about what boys are saying to little girls. From the video, most people are absolutely appalled by this behaviour and think it is disgusting.
‘But some people say that this happened 30 years ago too and this is just how children speak. A tiny minority have said ‘can you blame a boy for being attracted to a woman?’
‘I don’t blame the school and I don’t blame the parents. But as a society, we’ve got TikTok and video games, and I think people need to be more aware of what children are being allowed to see. It’s just not acceptable.’
A spokesperson for the school, which has not been named, said: ‘The behaviour in this isolated incident goes against our values of mutual respect, both within our school and the wider community.
‘As soon as we were made aware of the situation, we immediately investigated and took appropriate action. We will be speaking with all pupils to reiterate with them the standards we set for all those within our school.’
It comes after a headteachers’ union chief said last month that school leaders were having to deal with the consequences of toxic masculinity and online radicalisation every day.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, called for politicians, families and school staff to work together to stop a generation of boys ‘disappearing into a vortex of hatred and lies’.
In a speech, Mr Whiteman highlighted television drama Adolescence which has prompted a national conversation about misogyny and online safety.
He warned that technology can ‘isolate and divide’ and create ‘dangerous spaces’ for children trying to find their identity in the world.
