Boy given bail after admitting 200 raids

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy who admitted carrying out more than 200 high-street burglaries in the past year was remanded on bail yesterday at his 33rd appearance in a juvenile court.

The boy's mother said after the hearing at Sutton magistrates' court in Surrey that she had hoped that her son would be locked up, although she realised that he was too young.

The boy, who cannot be identified, yawned while the court clerk read out the latest list of 32 burglaries carried out by the teenage gang which he led. Goods and money totalling pounds 57,846 were taken from shops during break-ins in the Sutton and Wallington areas of Surrey in the past three months.

Fiona Ledden, a solicitor for Sutton social services, told the juvenile panel that the council could not respond to police concern and send the boy to a local authority secure establishment because they were all full. 'At the moment, the boy is still fifth from the top of the list,' she said.

The boy was granted bail until his appearance for sentencing on 20 March, on conditions that included a 5pm to 7am curfew. Most of the offences were committed at night.

After the case, his mother predicted that he would carry out further burglaries while on bail. 'I had prayed that somehow common sense might have prevailed and my son would have been put away for his own safety and for the protection of the public,' she said. 'At the moment he does not give a damn about authority.'

The offences which the boy admitted yesterday included a raid on a Dorothy Perkins shop in Sutton High Street in which clothes worth more than pounds 28,000 were stolen, three break-ins at Burton's within one week, and six at various branches of Boots.