Father launches appeal for information after 12-year-old son is 'beaten for being ginger'

The boy was allegedly kicked, stamped on and hit with his own scooter during the attack in a park in Yeovil

Toby Gates was beaten and stamped on by the bullies in the 40 second Snapchat video

Footage has emerged of a boy seemingly being beaten with his own scooter after being attacked by a mob of schoolchildren.

The video, shot on a mobile phone and uploaded to Snapchat and Facebook, appeared to show the boy being wrestled to the ground before being repeatedly kicked and hit with the scooter while lying on the ground during the attack at Abbey Manor Park in Yeovil, Somerset on Saturday.

At one point the bystander filming the video put their phone right in front of Toby’s face to take a photograph of him lying on the ground along with two other children who participated in the attack.

The boy's father, Simon McManus, shared the video - which has now been viewed over 350,000 times - on Facebook in a bid to find his attackers.

He said his son had been repeatedly taunted for being red haired.

He told the Daily Mail: “I was devastated when he told me what happened. I was fuming. I wanted to sort it out there and then and find the kids who did it.

“Obviously that’s not the answer and would have made me no better than the people who did this.

“I told him: ‘You can’t let these people get away with this’.”

He said when the 12-year-old returned home he had gone straight to his room and his elder sister told their father that he was crying heavily.

The boy initially claimed he was fine and had just fallen over but later on in the evening a few of his sister’s friends came over to show them the Snapchat video.

Ms McManus said the boy had then told him they had stolen his scooter and they attacked him when he attempted to get it back.

He said his son had been repeatedly taunted for being red haired since he started school and they “latest thing they’ve started saying” is threatening to light a cigarette on his head because his hair is on fire.

Avon and Somerset Police confirmed to the Daily Mail that they were investigating the incident.