Fleetwood schoolboy broke his curfew

The 15-year-old, from Fleetwood, who can not be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to breaching bail.

District Judge Jeff Brailsford, sitting at Blackpool Magistrates’ Court, agreed to rebail him, telling him: “What I was told did not seem very impressive - that someone else took your tag off.

“You are at a crossroads, you must comply with your bail conditions.”

Pam Smith, prosecuting, said the boy had been bailed on the condition he kept a 9pm to 7am curfew while awaiting trial on offences of affray, possessing a blade and resisting arrest.

On January 30, the equipment monitoring his tag registered that the boy had broken his curfew. An official called the boy’s address and was told by one of the boy’s relatives that he was not in and that he had pulled off his tag.

A visit to the boy’s home was then made by an official at 10.20pm that night and he was still not present. He was arrested the next day.

Patrick Nelligan, defending, said: “He went out in the afternoon and he says other people pulled off his tag. He has spent the night in the cells.”