Youth shoots social worker

A social worker was shot in front of 200 terrified children and parents after attempting to break up a fight between youths at a north London school.

The man was blasted in the foot with a pistol as he intervened in the brawl between youngsters at a talent show at Northumberland Park School in Tottenham.

The 40-year-old victim, a Haringey council youth worker, was taken to hospital and has since been released. But he is reportedly reluctant to assist police with their inquiries in case he loses the trust of the youngsters in his care.

The attacker is thought to be a black youth in his late teens. One mother who witnessed the attack during the council-sponsored event on Thursday said: "It is terrible that such young people have guns."

A Scotland Yard spokesman said the shooting is being investigated by officers from Operation Trident, the Met unit set up to deal with black-on-black gun crime. He said: "Police were called to reports of a shooting at 9.40pm. The victim was shot in the foot, apparently after he stepped in to stop a fight between a group of black youths. So far there have been no arrests."

The 1,100-pupil comprehensive, which stands in the shadow of Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane stadium, is in one of London's toughest areas and has a history of violence.

One former pupil, 14-year-old Aaron Smith, was jailed last Friday for his part in the "revenge" rape of a schoolgirl in an alley close to the school.

Smith and Martin Harvey, also 14, were sentenced to a total of seven years and three months for the attack on the 13-year-old girl, who had reported the pair over the theft of a bike.

In response to increasing violence in and around its grounds, Northumberland Park became the first London school 18 months ago to have its own policeman stationed on-site.