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Tiny tear-away locked up after ‘serial’ offending
Stuart Greer29/11/2006
OLDHAM magistrates have jailed a 13-year-old "serial" burglar, despite fears that a custodial sentence could make him a worse offender.
The boy, from Derker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to four months detention after pleading guilty to stealing a computer game from a flat and handling stolen goods after his friends took a mobile phone from an unlocked van.
Oldham Magistrates' Court heard that this was the 10th conviction - and his fourth for burglary - since he was 11.
Magistrates said they were left with no option but to issue a custodial sentence.
The court heard that on September 28, at 12.45am, the boy had been walking the streets of Chadderton with a friend when they decided to climb scaffolding next to a block of flats in Nelson Way. The boys climbed up to the open window of a first-floor flat and reached through to take a Sony Playstation 'Need for Speed' game and CD player.
The owner of the flat, who knew the boys, was in bed when the burglary happened.
Police later discovered the Playstation game at the defendant's house.
Mr Parker, defending, said: "He climbed the scaffolding out of sheer interest. He was bored and had been doing nothing. He followed up the friend he was with. He didn't go into the house."
The court also heard that just weeks later, at around 5pm on November 16, the defendant was part of a group of three who stole a Motorola phone worth £265 from a Ford transit parked in Stanley Walk, Royton.
It was also reported that the defendant had previous convictions for burgling homes and a school.
Mr Parker said that he feared that a custodial sentence would not provide a solution.
He said: "He is a very young and immature young man. He would be very vulnerable to be introduced to a new crowd of older and more sophisticated criminals. I fear he will come out worse rather than the better."
Mr Parker added that the defendant, who has been excluded from school and has an attention defecit disorder, was gullible and had been "dragged along" by others.
"He will be led astray in a big way," he said. "I don't think he can stand up for himself."
Nevertheless, magistrates said they felt that supervision orders and curfews had not been respected or worked and subsequently ordered the boy to serve four months' detention.
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2/12/2006 at 17:16
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