A DAD who confronted a gang who had been bullying his son was threatened with a knife and forced to flee.

The caring parent was charged at by a teen with a “12 inch knife”.

He told the Echo he was involved in an altercation with a group of youths thought to be between the ages of 14 and 17, after he confronted them over extreme bullying towards his teenage son.

The incident took place in Rayleigh on Thursday.

The victim said: “I went over to the park with my son’s mother to ask these boys why they were doing this to my son.

“One of the boys then pulled out a 12-inch knife straight away and told me ‘you won’t be so brave when this blade is in you will you big boy’ and just ran at me with this knife.

“As this happened, my ex-partner was on the phone to the police.

“I jumped over someone’s fence into their back garden to try and get to safety and picked up some odds and sods that were lying around and threw some things at them in self-defence.

“They then heard sirens and ran off.”

The shaken father claims that when police arrived, they stated they were well aware of who the boys were but are trying to build a case against them before making any arrests, to avoid anything “falling through”.

He added: “My son is just beside himself.

“These boys have been threatening him on Snapchat and threatening to knife him, but he won’t report any of this to the police because he is scared of what these boys will do to him.

“The messages then disappear after they are sent, which I didn’t know.

“They are walking around freely carrying knives.

“We can’t even walk through Rayleigh anymore without the worry of being attacked with a knife.”

The father has called on the police to take action.

A spokesman for Essex Police said: “We were called to reports of a disturbance at in Rayleigh on Thursday.

“A man, aged in his 40s, reported that he had been involved in a verbal altercation with a group of teenagers on The Chase just before 4.10pm. This led to him being threatened with a knife by a member of the group.

“Officers attended and conducted a thorough area search, conducted house to house enquiries and gathered and reviewed CCTV footage.

“Our enquiries are ongoing and, at present, no arrests have been made in connection with this investigation.

“Anyone who has not yet spoken to our officers is asked to call Rayleigh’s Local Policing Team on 101 quoting the crime reference number 42/61012/19.”

The spokesman added: “We received a call yesterday expressing dissatisfaction in our handling of this incident, and this will be reviewed and responded to promptly.”

Chief Insp Glen Westley, district commander for Castle Point and Rochford, added: “To be the victim of any crime, let alone one where a weapon is used, is incredibly distressing, and I’d like to praise the victim for coming forward and reporting this incident, as well as his offers to assist with our enquiries.

“To build a case strong enough to present to the Crown Prosecution Service in the hope of a charge can take a great deal of time, evidence and preparation.

“Whilst I appreciate that this can be frustrating for victims, especially in a crime where there has been violence or a threat of violence, we need to be diligent when preparing these files, so that victims are not disappointed at a later date in the investigation.

“It is our duty to investigate crimes as thoroughly as we can and to keep the victims of crime as up-to-date as possible in an investigation.

“We take reports of knives being carried very seriously and, if you have any information, we would urge you to call us on 999 in an emergency or on 101. You can also report a crime online, or visit websites like Only Cowards Carry and Fearless.org for advice on how to keep people away from knives.”