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Howard Stapleton |
Mosquito inventor bites back at youth council ‘bully’ tactics
‘Axel Landin has got to grow up – I just feel very sorry for the shopkeeper’
ONE is a Highgate schoolboy fighting for the rights of young people across the borough, the other is a famous inventor defending his most notorious creation.
They have never met, but Axel Landin and Howard Stapleton were at loggerheads this week over the use of the controversial Mosquito alarm in Camden, the controversial siren used to drive away packs of teenagers.
The device works by emitting an irritating high-pitched frequency that only those with sensitive hearing – typically those aged under 25 – can hear.
Camden’s Youth Council leader Axel Landin, 17, and two other teenage youth councillors led a protest over the first Mosquito to be used in the borough last week, persuading the proprietor of an off licence in Regent’s Park to remove the siren.
But Howard Stapleton, the inventor based in Wales who dreamt up the idea, quickly hit back with a letter to the New Journal, pulling no punches in rubbishing the “the human rights brigade” and Axel.
He said: “He [Mr Landin] has got a few more years to grow up. I just felt very sorry for the shopkeeper.
“Not only is he being intimidated by large groups of teenagers but he’s also being bullied by a youth group who have forced him to remove his alarm.”
Mr Stapleton queried whether Mr Landin would solve the problem of teen anti-social behaviour by guarding the shop himself.
Mr Landin, who has been busy applying to universities in recent weeks, has refused to be cowed by Mr Stapleton, whose company Compound Security turned over £60,000 in the past month.
“This man may mock and ridicule us but this alarm is a spanner in the works for everyone looking to improve community relations,” said Mr Landin, a William Ellis student.
“If he is such a genius he can design an alarm that only young criminals can hear, then bring it forward. But I don’t think it’s possible.”
Their dispute came as adult councillors were split on the issue.
Several Conservatives openly broke ranks with the Liberal Democrats despite the two parties’ coalition at the Town Hall.
Lib Dem crime chief councillor James King said last week: “Mosquitos are fundamentally discriminatory.”
But backbench Tory councillors Lulu Mitchell, Keith Sedgwick and Kirsty Roberts, who all live on estates plagued by antisocial behaviour, said Mosquito alarms should be considered as a last resort to antisocial behaviour.
Cllr Roberts said: “I think there would be a lot of support for something like this on estates. I think sometimes the Lib Dems are too lenient.”
Conservative group leader Andrew Marshall said he would like to “hear more” about how the Mosquito works.
The issue is due to be discussed at the full council meeting on Monday.
Howard Stapleton, Mosquito inventor, 42: “I am fed up with the statement there ‘must be other ways’ – what are they? A policeman on every street maybe? Who is going to pay? The answer: the taxpayer, at around £300 per police visit.”
Axel Landin, youth council leader, 17: “Who is this guy? I think his comments are offensive to all those young people who haven’t done anything wrong. This measure [using a Mosquito] is reactionary and discriminatory.” |
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