People from all walks of life have fond memories of Gavin Waterhouse, who died aged 29, following an unprovoked and cowardly attack.

What has churned stomachs even more is the fact that a 15-year-old girl filmed the attack on a mobile phone.

A number of issues have been raised by the death of Gavin. Firstly, the Crown Prosecution Service has to be applauded for taking the landmark decision to prosecute the girl.

It should send a loud and clear warning to other young people who think "happy slapping" attacks are acceptable.

The girl's mother claims she has been begging social services and the council for two years to help her, to no avail.

Those comments have been righly dismissed as "tripe" by Gavin's family. They say as the parent it was up to her to control her daughter and not lay blame at the door of social services. Where the girl's mother may have a point for debate is where do you go for help if your child is out of control?

She is also right is to raise the profile once again of the issue of binge drinking and the problem of gangs of youths roaming the streets.

It would be a wonderful memorial to Gavin if a positive scheme could be developed in his name to show teenagers they can have a great, fun-filled life without getting smashed out of their minds on drink or drugs.

We must not let his death become just another statistic on the crime records.