Teen jailed for breaching curfew order 14 times

A TEENAGER has been jailed for six months for breaching a curfew on 14 separate occasions, just days after it was imposed.

Nathan Anning, from Barry, was given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after being convicted of possessing an offensive weapon and two counts of common assault. The 19-year-old was originally sentenced on May 5 last year, when the judge also ordered him to complete 30 days of a rehabilitation activity.

He was back in court five months later after breaching the order and Judge Jeremy Jenkins imposed a 12-week curfew, to be monitored by an electronic tag.

The judge said the curfew was designed to make the sentence “more onerous”.

Richard Ace, prosecuting, said Anning breached the terms of the curfew just days after it was made. The court heard the defendant breached the curfew on 14 occasions and also failed to attend several appointments with the Probation Service.

Prosecutors said the picture was not entirely negative, as he had completed 18 out of 30 days of the rehabilitation requirement and the Probation Service was still prepared to work with him.

Anning, of Tynewydd Road, Barry, appeared via video link from HMP Cardiff for the hearing. Nigel Fryer, defending, said: “It is a difficult and sad case.”

He described his client as “a vulnerable young man” and said Anning was struggling to understand what was required of him. Mr Fryer argued the defendant was making “slow and steady” progress.

He accepted: “Your Honour is only going to give him so many chances and those chances may have run out today.”

Judge Jenkins said: “It simply cannot go on. I am afraid, to use Mr Fryer’s expression, this is the end of the road.”

He noted this was the second breach of the sentence and concluded the original court order was “unworkable”. Anning was jailed for six months.