Riley Radcliffe
Riley Radcliffe (2009)
Tani Edgecombe-Mueck
Episodes:4980-4987)
Parent: Ian Radcliffe
Occupation: Primary school student
Riley and his friends were at the Surf Club while VJ played the video game. VJ told Romeo that he had to go upon seeing Riley and his friends congregate around the pool table and Riley boasted that he could play pool with one hand tied behind his back.
At the Diner, Riley warned VJ to stay out of his way and said that he wasn’t scared of VJ’s Mum. Romeo asked if he was scared of him and he told Riley to get lost which he did but not before purposely knocking VJ over in the process. Romeo mentioned to Leah that VJ was being bullied, VJ had bruises on his legs and he revealed that Riley and his friends made him throw the water bombs, unlock the security bar on the computers and if he didn’t then they would bash him.
Riley was down near the beach with his friends when Miles had a friendly chat to him. Miles warned him to stay away from VJ as he won’t be doing anymore dirty work for him and he mentioned that Riley was doing it tough at home because his Dad had lost his job which Riley wasn’t too please about.
Riley and his friends confront VJ in the Diner car park as he went to soccer practice but upon seeing VJ’s Mum, Riley threatened him saying that VJ and Miles were “gone” before walking away.
Miles was having a shower outside at the beach when Riley pushed Miles into the pole, then one of the boys placed Miles’s towel over his head before all four of them started to kick Miles senseless and then they all ran off leaving Miles bleeding and shaken from the ordeal.
VJ told Miles that Riley and his friends were responsible for the attack and they were planning it the day before when they confronted VJ in the Diner car park but VJ didn’t expect that they would go ahead with the plan.
During the night Miles went to Riley’s house as he wanted to speak to either his Dad or Mum. Riley mentioned that his Dad was at the Pub and that his Mum didn’t live with them. When Riley asked Miles what had happened to his face Miles looked at Riley then down at his shoes and had a flashback. Miles realised that Riley was one of the attackers and he grabbed Riley in an attempt to reason with him and to take him down to the Police station but Miles lost his temper, Riley was resisting so Miles let him go. Riley went back inside his house and mentioned that he was going to tell his Dad about what had just happened.
At the Police station the following morning, Riley was there with his Dad and he was covered in bruises from his neck to his face as he was beaten up. Riley’s Dad accused Miles of doing that to his son. In the interview room, Miles believed that Riley was using the injuries that he had sustained to blame it on Miles so that he could save himself from being accused of what he and his mates had done to Miles. Miles admitted that he did lay his hands on Riley and tried to drag him to his car but he didn’t hurt him.
Later in the day, Charlie talked to Riley at his house about the events that occurred the night before. Riley said that Miles grabbed hold of his arm with his right hand. During Charlie’s chat with Riley, Ian showed up and whisked Riley away but Riley did confirm to Charlie that Miles had indeed assaulted him.
We learn that Riley was three years older than VJ and that he was in Year 6 at school. The school reprimanded Riley for bullying VJ. Some of the kids started to ignore VJ for no reason and then others joined in, so now he was an outcast and Leah had an idea that Riley was behind it.
VJ chatted to Riley alone on the beach and told him that he will be in trouble if he doesn’t stop lying because Miles would not hurt Riley, that the Police will work it out and then he might be thrown out of school. VJ then courageously took Riley’s back pack and threw it in the surf before running off. Later on, Riley showed his Dad the back pack that he used for school, it and the content were all wet and a mobile phone was wrecked in the process. Ian was annoyed with Riley and said that he would deal with him at home. Riley was scared and kept apologising to his Dad. When Ian left Riley began to cry and VJ secretly saw the whole encounter then informed Miles.
Riley didn’t turn up to school so Charlie, another officer and Miles arrived at the Radcliffe’s house. Charlie had contacted DOCS but nothing had been done about the situation. Riley opened the door told them that his Dad wasn’t home and he said that he was sick therefore he didn’t go to school. Charlie asked Riley about the bruises on his face but he didn’t answer. Inside the house Charlie chatted with Riley about his situation and that if he wants things to change then all he needs to do is to speak up. Riley said that his Dad gets mad at him, he messes things up but his Dad doesn’t mean to hurt him. Riley admitted that Ian was the one that hurt him and not Miles. Ian came in and was all concerned for Riley, he asked Riley what he had said and he told his Dad that he said nothing and didn’t want to let them in. Riley was taken outside by the other officer. Charlie told Ian that Riley will be taken to the hospital for a check up and then she doubted whether DOCS would bring him back home.