During a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on August 23, 2024, 17-year-old Louis Melotte was ordered to serve five years in youth detention with an extended five year licence period, due to the danger he poses, following his attack at Birley Academy, in Sheffield, which caused the school go into lockdown and triggered a huge police response.
Video footage of the incident, which was played again at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, showed Melotte, of Jaunty Avenue, Sheffield , suddenly begin to hit a 12-year-old girl multiple times in the reception area and then turn on a receptionist and a youth worker who intervened.
The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, lifted a court order protecting his identity at a previous hearing. As Melotte, and the other cases on this list, demonstrate age is sadly no barrier when it comes to committing serious offences.
In each of the cases included here, the defendants currently serving time were in their teens when they were brought to justice at Sheffield Crown Court.
The identity of some of the defendants on this list was initially protected by reporting restrictions, only to be lifted at the request of the press by judges who believed it was in the public interest for them to be named.
1. Sheffield criminals jailed for serious offences when they were teenagers
All of the defendants pictured here were sentenced to time at His Majesty's Pleasure for serious crimes carried out when they were teenagers | Mix
2. Louis Melotte
During a hearing held at Sheffield Crown Court on August 23, 2024, 17-year-old Louis Melotte was ordered to serve five years in youth detention with an extended five year licence period, due to his dangerousness, following his attack at Birley Academy, in Sheffield, which caused the school go into lockdown and triggered a huge police response. Video footage of the incident, which was played again at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, showed Melotte, of Jaunty Avenue, Sheffield , suddenly begin to hit a 12-year-old girl multiple times in the reception area and then turn on a receptionist and a youth worker who intervened. The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, lifted a court order protecting his identity at a previous hearing. | SYP
3. Lamar Waite
During an incident on Division Street, Sheffield city centre in September 2017, Lamar Waite stabbed three men in what Judge Peter Kelson KC described as an 'explosion of violence'. A Sheffield Crown Court sentencing hearing held in April 2018 heard how Waite, then 18 and formerly of Denholme Close, Burngreave slashed the three Polish men after he and his co-accused, Osman Adan, became involved in a brawl on Division Street with the victims and their friends just before 5.50am While Adan, then aged 20 and of Neville Close, Burngreave was involved in the violence, the court heard how his involvement was limited to punching members of the victim’s group and to using a glass bottle. Judge Kelson, who described the incident as an ‘explosion of violence’ sentenced Waite to 12-years in prison, with an extended license period of four years, and sentenced Adan to 12-months in a young offenders’ institute. As Judge Kelson jailed the two, he told them he believed ‘deterrent sentences’ were needed to reassure members of the public. | SYP
4. Emar Wiley
Emar Wiley was just 16-years-old when he stabbed a young dad-of-one to death in Sheffield in July 2019. He received a life sentence for killing Lewis Bagshaw and was initially sent to Wetherby Young Offender Institute in West Yorkshire. But just two months after being sentenced and ordered to spend a least 16 years behind bars, he stabbed a prison officer. Wiley, formerly of Mason Lathe Road, Shiregreen, had extra time added onto his sentence. Wiley stabbed Lewis twice in his chest in an attack on Piper Crescent. Lewis collapsed and died a short time later. Wiley had attacked Lewis’ dad two months earlier and left him with a fractured skull. When Wiley and Lewis’ paths crossed, there was a confrontation and violence flared. Wiley chased Lewis and plunged a knife into him Photo: South Yorkshire Police