Ex-convict who Kidnapped boy, 14, is spared jail because Victim was ‘wild’ and would have Suffered ‘minimal effect’

An ex-convict who kidnapped a 14-year-old boy on a train has been spared jail after a judge ruled his victim was ‘quie wild’ and would have suffered ‘minimal effect’.

Geoffrey Hirst, 48, who had 39 previous convictions, was arrested after police caught him boarding a train with the teen schoolboy. When officers met the pair at Manchester Piccadilly Railway station, both smelt heavily of cannabis, police said.

The boy was picked up in Manchester and taken home by his foster parents. He was subject to a social services order which said he was at ‘high risk’ because he was regularly associating with homeless adult men.

The boy had been known to go missing from his new foster home in Glossop that he moved to at the beginning of 2018. On 14 May, the boy was seen with Hirst in the Glossop area. On May 18, Hirst was issued with a child abduction notice which warned him to stay away from the boy amid fears he was allowing him to get involved with drugs.  The notice said that he must not have any contact or association with the boy.

But then on 11 June, there was contact between the two. At 7.30am in the morning the boy left his foster home without permission, he was reported missing and not seen again until a police officer saw him on one side of the road with Hirst on the other side as they both headed towards the train station.

Hirst was arrested and taken to court where he admitted one charge of child abduction whereby detaining a child as to keep him from a responsible person.

He was spared jail with a 12-month community order including 40 hours in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme after Judge Bernard Lever said he needed help with his addiction.

He was also handed an indefinite restraining order preventing him from contacting the teenager again. Prosecutor James Priest said.

The judge said:

My particular regard is for the safety of the public and I think it’s very important that you get the help that you need with alcohol and drugs.

This boy was 14 years old and had a social services care order. He was in high risk of associating with homeless adults who might invite him to participate in drug use.

It was made quite clear that you must not associate with him but you were then seen getting on the same train to Manchester.

He added:

The child has been quite wild in his adolescence which is nothing to do with you.

The most important thing that the court has to do is to protect the public and to protect young people.