Bonfire killer's criminal Huddersfield past

Nov 28 2008 by Andrew Hirst, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A 13-YEAR-OLD boy who brutally murdered a man and threw him on a bonfire had committed offences in Huddersfield.

A report on Jamie Smith made the shocking revelation when it emerged that details of these offences did not move with him when he returned to his home on the Wirral near Liverpool.

Teenage killer Smith was on the run from a care home when he savagely beat 34-year-old Stephen Croft and threw his body on a bonfire in Merseyside on November 6 last year.

The well-built youngster was locked up indefinitely for the crime and told he must serve at least 13 years behind bars.

In late 2005 he lived in Huddersfield for three months and committed two offences which were dealt with by Huddersfield Youth Court.

But no details of these crimes were ever passed back to the Youth Offending Team dealing with him on the Wirral.