Boy, 16, with five previous convictions is spared jail for causing grievous bodily harm to another teenager

The boy, who is too young to be legally named, was serving a sentence at the city's Secure Training Centre in Oakhill for a previous offence at the time,

Aylesbury Crown court heard he had been passing a ball around as part of a group of five on the centre's Astroturf last September when he and another teenager rushed at one of their peers and knocked him to the ground.

Prosecuting, James Bloomer said: "The group together went to the Astroturf football pitch. There was then an argument, whether begun by comments or in whatever way, which ended with the victim being punched to the ground and then kicked and stamped on by this defendant and another. He suffered a broken jaw and a root fracture of the tooth."

Mr Bloomer said the young defendant had been serving a 12-month custodial sentence at the time for robbery and had five convictions for that same offence between 2018 to last year, for which he had received previous youth rehabilitation orders.

The court had heard that an 18-year-old who carried out such a violent attack would be looking at a starting sentence of 12 years imprisonment.

Judge Catherine Tulk heard how the boy had admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent after watching CCTV footage of the attack.

She gave the boy an order, which means he has to be supervised by a youth offending team and wear an electronic tag for three months, between 8pm and 7am. The order will last until the day before his 18th birthday. He must also pay costs of £2 per week

The judge said she would be willing to vary the times of his electronic curfew if he wanted to undertake football coaching after his release.

"I do not know whether you like football or not, but tell me so I can do those things...Good luck and enjoy your birthday..." she told him after hearing his 17th birthday was looming.

Daniel Benjamin, defending, said the boy's parents were abroad visiting family and would not see him on his birthday,

"He is not going to be spending his birthday with associates and friends, relaxing as many 17-year-olds would. He is instead going to be looking for work.

"Within custody, there will be a peer group who he will seek to impress by controlling and intimidating others. A return to custody would probably lead to further in-custody offences.

"He has the opportunity to continue to turn his life around and this is the last chance, the last opportunity he will have to do so. When he reaches the age of 18 years, these sorts of opportunities will not be there for him again."

The court heard how the teenage defendant would live with his aunt and older sister and continue working with his local young offenders' team if he were released.

Judge Tulk said she thought the youth rehabilitation order was a fitting punishment,

"It will expire the day before your 18th birthday, which I think given the growing up that you have done over the last nine months or so, coupled with the growing up that I have absolutely no doubt you are going to do over the next 12 months, I think it is only right and proper that the day before you become an adult will be the day that a line is drawn under what happened during your childhood.

"You can step into your first day of adulthood looking very firmly forwards and not backwards.

Speaking of the incident, the judge added: "There had clearly been something which had been going on in the days and hours leading up to this, as I suppose in some ways is not particularly a surprise.

"If you put a group of teenage lads into an environment, whether that is a posh, fancy boarding school or a teenage training centre, the relationship between those teenage boys is going to lead to conflicts and to argument, sadly sometimes to violence. What may have come as something of a surprise to everybody was the extent to which the victim was injured."

She told the boy: "If you were an adult, you would be looking at a starting point of 12 years imprisonment. It is perhaps a little odd that your parents did not defer their holiday so they could be with you here today.

"I think you are at the point in your life where you have made the decision that you want to have a positive future...The principle aim of the youth justice system is to prevent offending and your welfare. The approach to sentencing must be individualistic and focused on you, as opposed to what you did."