"Of all the boys I have ever had here this is the smallest and the worst." This statement by the custodian of a remand home was quoted recently in a case at Poole, Dorset.
Tt referred to an eight-year-old who was charged at the juvenile court with' 15 offences, mostly housebreaking. They involved the theft of over £30 and covered a period of from before Christmas to a few weeks ago. The boy admitted them all.
E. E. Parsons G's "Franklin and. family Mr. and Mrs. O. Okamoto Sir Allan and Ladys Mossop Supt, Swain said: "At one time 1 was doubtful whether such a small boy could have committed all the offences, because in many cases they looked like the work of an expert cracksman.
"The boy has been taken to the various places by a plain clothes officer and has pointed out in each case how he had obtained entry, and what he had done, We are now satisfied that he was responsible.
"I have 47 police reports concerning the conduct of this boy, who seems to be entirely out of parental and school control, "His parents put him in leaded" boots to keep him in, and he has been found long distances from home, still wearing them. They had also chained him and tied him without effect.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.