Age is sadly no barrier when it comes to committing serious offences, as these cases involving South Yorkshire teenagers demonstrate.
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 due to them being under 18 when their cases reached court, 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.
5. Boe Barton
Minutes before sending 17-year-old Boe Barton to begin 18 years’ custody at His Majesty’s pleasure for the murder of 42-year-old Anthony Sumner, Judge Peter Kelson KC granted The Star’s request to lift a legal restriction protecting his identity on March 31, 2023. Barton, of South-East Sheffield, celebrated his 15th birthday just months before becoming involved in fatal, joint knife attack, along with his co-accused Richard Sampson, on 42-year-old Anthony Sumner on July 29, 2021. Sampson, then aged 50, of Prince of Wales Road, near Woodthorpe, Sheffield, was also sentenced for Mr Sumner’s murder during the same hearing, during which Judge Kelson jailed him for life, to serve a minimum of 28 years behind bars. Sending the pair to custody, Judge Peter Kelson KC said: “The circumstances and ferocity of this attack were both savage and cowardly. He continued: “I’m satisfied, on the evidence, that you set out to find Anthony Sumner that night, you followed him for a period of time…this was an ambush. There was a degree of planning, or pre-meditation, for an offence of violence.” “There were two of you…you chased your victim, you cornered him and attacked him when he was unarmed and defenceless.” | SYP
6. 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 | SYP
7. Ruben Monero and Isaac Ramsey
Ruben Monero and Isaac Ramsey were both 17 when they involved in an attack which resulted in the death of 35-year-old Marcus Ramsay on August 8, 2020. Marcus died after an unconnected altercation at a street party on Horninglow Road, Firth Park, escalated into significant disorder, which culminated in him being stabbed through the heart. Moreno was convicted of murder after a trial, and Ramsey was found guilty of manslaughter. Moreno was sentenced to serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars and Ramsay was jailed for a minimum of 14 years. Both teens had turned up at the party armed with knives. | SYP
8. Jabari Fanty
Jabari Fanty was 19 when he was involved in a “planned and cold-blooded murder” in Sheffield' Fanty, of Broadhead Road, Stocksbridge, and two others, were found guilty by a jury of murdering 20-year-old Ramey Salem at a flat on Grimesthorpe Road South, Burngreave, Sheffield, on November 16, 2020. He was shot multiple times. Stephen Wood QC, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court the case involved drug dealing, guns and gangs and the ruthless lengths gangs will go to in order to protect their turf. | SYP