“We have messed up” magistrate tells 14-year-old defendant

An administrative mix up has delayed the sentencing of a 14-year-old girl who was convicted of two counts of assaulting police officers.

“I’m not coming to court ever again…. I don’t care” were the final words of the 14-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as she stormed out of the court room after being found guilty of two counts several weeks ago.

Luckily, not only had the girl and her mother returned to court for the 2pm hearing, but also her three younger sisters who had been removed from school early by the mother. The hearing began at 3.11pm.

During the full-day trial in August, as we detailed in our report, the court heard that attempts to remove a group of rowdy teenagers from a property turned violent as the girl kicked out at a police officer.

The court had ordered a so-called pre-sentence report (or PSR) to be commissioned. These are expert assessments which give the court information about the offender and makes recommendations for rehabilitation.

Citing variously “some miscommunications” and an “administrative oversight” we were told that the request for a PSR had not been “allocated to an officer for assessment”.

“So nothing has happened since the 10^th [August]?” asked Magistrate chair Mr Chesterton JP.

“No sir” came the reply from the Youth Justice team who stated the issue had only been identified the day before.

A request for a further 4-week delay was met with a robust response from Mr Chesterton:

The thing that is really concerning is we have a 14-year-old girl who was last in court on 10^th August and she came today expecting the matter to be concluded and you’re saying you need another month?

If she was 17 maybe four weeks is kind of ok. She isn’t. She’s 14. The younger the child the more important it is we get things done speedily.

In the circumstances you should offer something better than a 4 week adjournment

With some haggling, we got down to three weeks and a slot on the 6th October was booked in for sentencing.

“Can we also please put a note that this needs to be called on as soon as possible on the 6^th. Given what’s happened, and her age, she doesn’t need to be hanging around like this again.”

Addressing the girl directly Mr Chesterton said:

Apologies, it’s not us that has messed up in the court but we’re all part of the same system.

We have messed up…For that we can only apologise.

We’re really sorry you’re being made to come back to court.

We’re hoping that on the 6^th October you can arrive at court, don’t be late, and that everything is ready to go so you should be able to leave quickly

We’re really sorry about this. It shouldn’t have happened. It’s rare, and it’s a real shame it’s happened today.

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Stratford Youth Court
Courtroom 10
15th September 2026
Before Mr Chesterton JP (Chair), Mrs Boyce JP, Mrs Goodman JP