Seven Adur and Worthing Teenagers Convicted Of 32 Offences

Thursday, 27 August 2020 14:44

By Charlotte Baker @Ch4rtweets

A group of teenagers have been convicted of 32 offences after appearing at Worthing Youth Court to face charges including causing actual bodily harm and assault by beating.

Police said the court process involving seven teenagers, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, has taken place over a year and two months.

Accoding to police, in total the group were:

Convicted of 32 offences
Two of the group were issued with a Criminal Behaviour Order, one of the orders includes a complete ban on social media.
Issued with 23 restraining orders
Handed 50.5 months in referral orders
Given 10 months in supervision orders
Given a 24 month intensive supervision and surveillance order
Issued with a 6 month tagged curfew
Ordered to pay £1,390 in compensation
Ordered to pay £60 victim surcharge
Ordered to pay £155 in costs
And 22 months of parental orders were also issued

The group consisted of two 13-year-old boys from Goring, two 13-year-old boys from Worthing, a 13-year-old boy from Lancing and a 13 and 14-year-old boy from Durrington.

Chief Inspector Sarah Leadbeatter District Commander for Adur and Worthing said:

"The behaviour from this group has caused distress and upset in the community, which is simply unacceptable.

"They would target individuals, including their peers, and use fear, intimidation and violence towards their victims.

"The group would often show little regard to the distress they were causing to not only the victims, but the victims’ families and wider community.

"I would like to personally thank the victims in each of the cases.

"They have shown incredible strength and bravery throughout this investigation especially when having to relive the traumatic events, in order for us to bring the offenders to justice.

"Although the victims in this case have physically recovered from their injuries, for some the psychological injuries remain, but I hope the conclusion of this criminal investigation goes some way to start that healing process.

"Tackling serious youth related violence across our district continues to remain my priority and we remain engaged with our communities in order to address local concerns and build on community intelligence.

"The final court case which occurred on Thursday (20 August) marks the final court case for the individuals involved and I would like to praise our partners for the multi-agency working we have all been undertaking to ensure this behaviour is being addressed.

"I would like to express my sincere thanks to all my officers who have worked tirelessly over the last 10 months to gather all of the relevant information for each of the individual cases.

"Many of our officers live and work in these communities and they too felt the distress this group was causing.

"We continue to need the support of our local community and there are many ways you can report matters of concern."