OK - looking for SENSIBLE suggestions here - please.

I'm a middle aged bloke who jogs.
I ran past a bunch of youths (10 or so 16 year olds) who started swearing at me for no reason in front of younger children.

I told them to stop, but one 'herbert' told me where to go in no uncertain terms and continued his tirade.

Do you
(a) ignore it
(b) kick the s4>@ out of him
(c) get a photo of him, find out where he lives and drop his parents a letter with photos
(d) tell the police and hand over the photos/name/address

I live in a very middle class village/town and this has never happened to me before.
At the time I felt like (b), but I would have probably ended up on a charge.
So I'm in the process of doing (d) and asking the police to confirm what they have done - or giving them the option of me sending the letter after letting them read it.

What the h3ll do you do with youths like that?

Just to reassure people, not all youths are like that

Now I don't condone violence, but, threatening to muller him in front of his mates will sufficiently humiliate to make him shut up.

This may sound weak but i think you may have to go with option (a)

Option (B) as you said probably would have resulted in a charge and if he was in a gang there could have been another Gary Newlove situation God rest his soul..

Option (C) well my bet is the parents would do sod all and probably don't care where he is unless you know different..

Option (D) the fuzz will do very little,but they might check your car is taxed before you drive off..

Its a sad state of affairs when you can't even go out jogging without getting abused...

Unfortunately A is probably the only option.
Go with B and you get arrested or they all turn on you and you take a kicking.
I don't think C or D are really options. Their parents will no doubt defend their kids and make you out to be the guilty party and I can't see the police taking much notice unless a crime has been committed.

You're right.
It's the 1st time in 15 years of jogging.

Not sure really, how exactly do you approach a group of youths?

I don't know much about you, but no offence here, but it's quite unlikely you could take 10 on if they all turned and 'started' so to speak. It's probably best to ignore them, I'm only 17 myself so I know what most youths are like, and they seem to thrive off getting a reaction, I'd say it's best to play your cards safe and ignore but if it continues to happen, phone the police and tell them.

Just ignore them mate

Would you have chanced it with 10 or so other of his chav mates ready to jump in? I say chavs as a sweeping generalisation, but I highly doubt they were on their way home from a cheese and wine evening. As another poster has pointed out, it could potentially have 'Gary Newlove' written all over it.

The sad fact is had it happened to me, the option I probably would have taken would have been to ignore it or ring the police and report a disturbance but only if you were damn sure you weren't going to see these scrotes again. I've unfortunately been witness to an extremely violent attack by a gang of mickeyed up chavs in the past, it's made me very wary of approaching situations like that again.

option E
don't jog in Bewsey and stick to Appleton