Teen who attacked three people wins appeal

A TEENAGER who attacked three people in Ilfracombe has been freed from youth detention after an appeal.

The youth, drunk on alcohol he stole in a raid on a hotel, launched an unprovoked attack on a 53-year-old stranger in the town's High Street then went for two teenagers.

The boy was originally sent into youth detention for four months by magistrates in Barnstaple.

He admitted burgling the Imperial Hotel in Ilfracombe, three common assaults, aggravated vehicle taking and driving without licence or insurance.

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Recorder Peter Towler replaced the detention order with youth rehabilitation for two years, with supervision and a two month curfew.

He told the 15-year-old: "We are concerned the sentence you received is more harsh than an adult would have received for the same offences and we recognise with a person of your age the court should endeavour to avoid custody."

David Bowen, for the prosecution, said the boy and two friends broke into a secure area at the Imperial Hotel in March and stole two bottles of alcohol.

It was after the boy had drunk some of the alcohol that the assaults took place.

He punched his first victim, a stranger aged 53, a number of times in the face, splitting his lip and causing bruising and scratches and a swollen nose.

He then put a stranger aged 17 in a head lock before banging his head against railings and pushing him up against a wall.

The final assault was on a 16-year-old who the youth knew and who tried to intervene to stop the previous attack.

The aggravated vehicle taking related to his mother's car. The boy took her keys and got in, letting off the handbrake and causing it to roll into other vehicles.

Lee Bremridge, for the defence, said the boy had now vowed to stop drinking and abusing cannabis and to keep away from the friends who had got him into trouble.