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Newbury News Ltd. Print-Digital-Social
Newbury News Ltd. Print-Digital-Social
Wed, 10 Oct 2018
A BOY who was caught with a kitchen knife at the skate park in Hungerford had travelled from his home near Newbury.
The 15-year-old had been due to appear before a youth court hearing at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, September 19.
The boy, who lives in a village near Newbury and can not be identified for legal reasons, was facing a charge of possessing a blue kitchen knife at the skate park in Bulpit Lane on an unspecified date.
However, the court was told that the charge had been withdrawn because the boy had been given a police caution instead.
This newspaper recently reported how Hungerford Town Council was warned the skate park had become a magnet for antisocial behaviour.
As a result, police have suggested removing the shelter to deter youths from congregating there at night.
At this month’s full meeting of Hungerford Town Council, councillors were given a report which referred to “a number of recent incidents at the skate park, including an arson attack”.
The meeting heard the neighbourhood police team has also requested that the town council place signs advising of an upper age limit of 14 and opening times of 8am to 8pm.
Last October, a schoolboy had a knife pulled on him at the skate park when he was caught in a showdown between rival gangs.
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NewburyJohn
11/10/2018 - 09:09
OI M8 WHERES YOUR KNOIFE LOICENSE
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AlexanderB
10/10/2018 - 19:07
Well its good ... in USA probably would have been a pistol
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NewburyJohn
11/10/2018 - 09:09
I agree, America is putting us to shame, our children should be carrying guns not knifes to protect them from foreign pedophiles
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Wanker
10/10/2018 - 15:03
Closing the skateboard park may punish the kids but the problem will not go away- next venue will be back to Town Hall steps or elsewhere. At least the Police know2 where youths congregate at present and CCTV monitors the situation there???
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Louise
10/10/2018 - 12:12
Whichever police officer authorised is symptomatic of the ever expanding liberal bias that needs stopping. Most definitely should have been charged & gone to court. This week's TV documentary on the police paints a picture of an increasingly ineffective police service (so called). From the CPS website "There is a strong public interest in deterring the carrying and use of knives and other offensive weapons". Slap on wrist sends wrong message to this young offender and all his peers.
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EugeneStryker
10/10/2018 - 13:01
If the aim is to reduce knife crime, then your call for a custodial sentence in this case is nonsense and will do nothing to prevent the problem escalating. A 3.4% annual rise in the prison population debunks your theory that prison is a good crime deterrent. Scotland has significantly reduced its knife crime problem by treating it as a public health challenge as opposed to simply a Police matter. The trouble is that feels a bit 'liberal' and might cost a bit of money.
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NoisyNortherner
10/10/2018 - 13:01
Did it ever occur that there's an incentive for police to focus on crimes where there's, for lack of a better term, an actual victim? The forces are already overstretched, underpaid, understaffed, and given increasingly more to do as time goes on. I agree, a caution for carrying a knife seems too lenient, but at the same time, would a custodial sentence really have accomplished anything? There's a multitude of examples that indicate just locking someone up for a relatively minor offence does nothing to cut re-offending rates. That's not liberal bias (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean), that's scientifically proven.
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