TWO men appeared in court yesterday over their role in obstructing a police officer trying to locate a missing 16-year-old girl.
Kevin Wilson, 31, and James Whittingham, 29, both of Leeds Road, Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to the charge.
Alex Bozman, prosecuting, said a police officer was sent to the occupants’ house on June 15 to see if the girl who had been reported missing was at that address.
Mr Bozman said: “There was some suggestion that Mr Whittingham might have been the last person to have seen her.
“Both were adamant that no-one else was in the property but another officer found the missing girl in an upstairs bedroom.
“Mr Whittingham accepted that he had lied to the police officer by saying she was not there.
“Mr Wilson said he didn’t know the girl was missing. He was in drink, to a degree, at the time of the interview.”
Ian Whiteley, representing both men, said: “This is something of an unusual case.
“Mr Whittingham thought the girl was 17-years-old and that she didn’t want to be found by police and asked these two men to say she was not there.
“It was a misjudgement on their part and they accept that they told an untruth.
“Mr Wilson has alcohol issues. This was not premeditated and there were no aggressive threats.”
Chairman of the bench, Richard Barker, told the two men: “You get full credit for the early guilty pleas and we don’t feel there are any aggravating factors. It was a misunderstanding.”
The defendants were fined £70, told to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £20, making that a total of £175 each.
