Floral tributes left in memory of Shawn Seesahai at Stowlawn playing fields. (Image: PA)
I know this won’t make me popular but I do not share the outrage over the sentencing of the two boys, who brutally knifed a man to death with a machete, to a minimum of eight -and-a-half years in custody. In the judge’s shoes I would have done the same, bearing in mind that release is not automatic (the term is part of a life sentence) and if they do not make the required progress then they will be kept inside.
The reason for that is straightforward: where possible those who offend as children should not begin their new lives in an adult prison where they will be surrounded by criminals of all types all day every day. They need to start again as normally as possible and their time in secure accommodation is designed to prepare them to lead normal, law-abiding lives.
Robert Thompson, one of the then 10 year-olds who tortured and killed little Jamie Bulger, and who, unlike his co-murderer Jon Venables, has never been in trouble with the law since his release, told in his submission to the Parole Board how he had never experienced a normal life with routine, discipline and attention until he was taken into secure accommodation, a pretty eloquent comment on the awful home lives many of these kids come from.
That brings me to the part of the judge’s decision with which I disagree. I think those boys should have been named. It would have done them no harm because they will be given new identities on release and, in any event, their neighbourhood probably already knows who they are but the parents need to be shamed and if there are siblings then social services need to be considering foster care. No reasonable parent lets a 12-year-old out with a machete and no child suddenly erupts in unprovoked murderous violence without some warning signs.
The attack took place on a November evening at a time when in decent house–holds 12 year-olds are having a meal, doing homework or engaged in after school activities. Their parents know where they are, what they’re doing and with whom. That should not be too much to ask.