Young thief gets nearly three years hard labour

Mar 9 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Huddersfield pupils celebrate centenary of Youth Courts with theatre production in real court.

YOUNGSTERS were up before the beak in Huddersfield.

But none were sent to the cells as they were there to see justice as it is done in 2009 – and the way it was done in 1909 to mark 100 years of Youth Courts in England.

Pupils from Lindley Junior School and Newsome High School were invited to see two short plays about court – one modern day and one from 100 years ago when child criminals faced harsh justice.

The students were joined by dignitaries including the Vice Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, John Brennan, and West Yorkshire’s High Sheriff, Roger Bowers.

The event, the only one in the county, showed the youngsters the different way children were treated in court before and after the Children’s Act was implemented in April 1909.

The year six Lindley pupils were shown a modern day play featuring a knife crime case followed by the re-enactment by magistrates, court officials and members of the youth justice team of the 1909 trial of Thomas McKean, a 15-year-old thief from Dalton.

Thomas was up before magistrates after he was caught pinching a purse containing 16s 6d at Huddersfield Corporation Swimming Baths on Ramsden Street.

Unlike today, Thomas was not given any defence and was sentenced to two years and 10 months hard labour at Calder Farm in Mirfield – now Woodland Care Home.