Police are investigating an incident in which a boy claimed he was threatened by gangsters after a playground squabble.

The 11-year-old was wearing his school uniform when he was allegedly threatened by two men in an alley between playgrounds at St Thomas’s of Canterbury RC primary school in Mitcham.

The men are believed to have told the child they were in a gang and would kill him in an incident before the easter holiday in March.

  The incident is said to have escalated after a row between the boy and a fellow pupil over who was allowed to “play out” later.

Siobhan McDonagh, the MP for Mitcham and Morden, confirmed that she was aware of the incident but that the parents of the child had asked her not to give any information about the incident to the press.

Councillor Peter Walker, Merton Council’s cabinet member for education, said: “As the local councillor for this area, I am confident that the school and the head will have acted responsibly and in the best interests of the child in light of the recent OFSTED report which found the school to have a good rating.”

A spokesman for Merton Council said: “We work hard with all our schools across the borough to ensure they have robust anti-bullying procedures in place so they are able to effectively manage any incidents as and when they arise. However, we do not comment on individual cases.”