Young yobs in crime spree
TEENAGERS USED TRAMS TO COMMIT STRING OF ATTACKS
A GANG of 13 and 14-year-old yobs went on a shocking summer holiday crime spree – using the Metrolink network to commit a string of attacks across Greater Manchester.
The majority occurred in Manchester city centre – in particular the area around the Urbis building and Cathedral Gardens.
But a string of sentencing hearings and cases coming before magistrates relate to crimes, and alleged crimes, committed from Oldham to Chorlton.
A 13-year-old boy who stabbed another child in the head with an Afro comb, leaving bits of metal in his skull, was part of the gang of baby-faced yobs.
The offender, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was one of a group of 15 boys who met at a Pupil Referral Unit last year, having been excluded from mainstream education.
It is understood some of the boys were only required to come into the PRU for as little as an hour and a half a day and were otherwise effectively allowed to roam free.
Between July and September they embarked on a crime spree, using the tram network to travel across Greater Manchester carrying out hundreds of violent offences.
Police said the offending began with low-level anti-social behaviour, incidents as simple as knocking a cap off someone’s head, and escalated to the point of violent assaults.
Under Operation Valiant, which tackles personal robberies, Greater Manchester Police launched a major investigation and have now charged around 15 suspects with more than a hundred offences, ranging from public order offences, to robberies and serious assaults.
All except one of the offenders was aged 13 or 14 years old at the time. The other was aged 16.
Due to the number of offenders, the cases are being dealt with separately through the justice system and the first sentencing hearings began this week.
At Manchester Crown Court, a boy who could barely see over the dock was brought in from custody.
Wearing black glasses and a navy, animal print jumper, he could not have appeared less intimidating.
But prosecutor Josh Bowker outlined his part in a series of ‘nasty’ crimes including attempted robbery, unlawful wounding, assault, and witness intimidation.
On July 20 last year, the day after the boy turned 13, he was among six boys who targeted a man at Market Street tram stop.
First, one of them tried to steal his iPhone out of his hand, then he was punched and hit around the face with newspapers by the defendant, Mr Bowker said.
Four days later, the defendant and two others attacked a 14-year-old boy at a tram stop in Oldham. He was approached by the trio and one of the boys asked the victim who he ‘hung around with,’ the court heard. When he replied, the boy said the victim’s friend had ‘snitched’ on one of their friends and was ‘going to prison for 10 years’ as a result.
Feeling threatened, the victim handed over £20.
Half an hour later, the trio attacked another victim aged 13 at another tram stop further down the Oldham line, the court heard.
“The gang of three approached the victim and the defendant assaulted him using an Afro comb,” said Mr Bowker. “He brought him to the floor, punching and kicking him. He used the Afro comb to stab the victim in the head repeatedly.
With his mum watching from the public gallery, he told Judge David Hale: “I do apologise for what I’ve done, I feel disgusted with myself.”
Judge Hale decided to spare the boy from custody and instead ordered him to attend a 12-month Intensive Supervision and Surveillance (ISS) programme.
He will also be subject to an electronic curfew from 7pm till 7am each night for three months.