“It is the end of the line”

Wednesday 07 September 2022

A young offender who showed “unwillingness bordering on contempt” for community service despite numerous attempts to help him avoid custody has been given youth detention by the Royal Court.

‘W’ – who cannot be named due to their age – was given a “final chance” by the court last year after coming within a “hair’s breadth of custody”.

However, despite one Probation Service official going "out of his way" to help the young person complete their community service, the Court heard that it would be "too much of a challenge" to accept them back on the scheme.

"It is the end of the line," Lieutenant Bailiff Anthony Olsen, sitting with Jurats Robert Christensen and Andrew Cornish, told the young offender as he handed down a sentence of five months' youth detention.

"We find that we have no alternative but to impose a period of youth detention because you have a history of failure to respond to non-custodial penalties and are unwilling to respond to them."

During the hearing, 'W' was also sentenced to a £530 fine to be repaid within 12 months for speeding – an offence the Royal Court decided "must be marked by a separate and condign penalty".

"The fine will be £530 or two weeks in default, and you will be disqualified from holding or obtaining a licence for four months," the Lietenant Bailiff said.

"But in view of what we have been told about your employment and your prospects, we order that the period of disqualification shall run from today and not from the date of your release from youth detention."

Advocate Sarah Dale was defending, while Crown Advocate Lauren Hallam represented the Crown.