A 14-year old British boy is to spend this year’s Christmas in an usual way— locked behind bars, the Daily Mail has reported.
Kenton Knight would spend the run-up to Christmas in a young offenders’ institution after he was named, shamed and locked up by annoyed magistrates in Swindon.
The boy has been terrorising staff at the Wiltshire town’s Burger King, shopping malls and a community centre and has repeatedly ignored court orders attempting to control his behaviour.
Knight the story indicated has been terrorising staff at the Wiltshire town’s Burger King, shopping malls and a community centre and has repeatedly ignored court orders attempting to control his behaviour.
After the repeated offender appeared before the court again, the local youth court last week, Head Magistrate, Michael New, sentenced him to a two-month young offenders’ sentence and ordered that he could be named and pictured so people in Swindon could be on guard against him.
‘Knight’s prolific and relentless behaviour in our communities for a significant amount of time has caused alarm and distress to many victims, young and old,” he said.
Police welcomes decision
The court’s sentence had been welcomed by the Wiltshire Police.
‘The injunction served on Knight in October provided clear boundaries that he has clearly chosen to ignore, and as such he has now received today’s sentence.
‘We hope that Knight’s time in detention will go some way in changing his offending behaviour when he returns back into the community,” Philip Day, a police officer was quoted as saying.
The teenager had been banned from the fast food outlet, two shopping centres and a community hub last month unless he had an adult with him.
He was also told to be in school between the hours of 9 am and 3pm and to stay away from a 17-year-old.
But he was found to have ignored the court’s instruction within just six weeks when he was spotted on a street corner at a time of day when he should have been in lessons.
A heart-broken mother
His heart-broken mother asked custody officers if she could give the teenager a cuddle before he was taken away to begin his sentence.
She claimed he will miss Christmas at home but the United Kingdom’s parole rules mean he is likely to be freed after a month.