Boy, 12, charged with assault after throwing cocktail sausage in 'Just William' prank

When a 12-year-old boy apparently got into an argument with an elderly neighbour, the youngster retaliated by throwing a cocktail sausage, which hit the pensioner on the shoulder.

Unfortunately, any comparisons with Richmal Crompton's stories of harmless schoolboy misbehaviour end there.

Instead of simply giving him a severe ticking-off, two police officers arrested the terrified boy, put him in the back of a squad car and locked him up in a cell.

He was then hauled before a court and charged with common assault.

A judge criticised police and lawyers yesterday for bringing the case, which has already cost thousands of pounds in taxpayers' money.

District Judge Tim Devas told the youth court where the boy appeared: "I was brought up in the era of Just William. You may not remember it but this incident sounds similar.

"Clearly there are certain things that should be done with a 12-year- old and you shouldn't be bringing them into the court system unless it's absolutely necessary.

"If he has done what was suggested it is very bad behaviour.

"But is it in the public interest to prosecute a 12-year-old boy who threw a sausage?"

He has urged the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider whether to prosecute.

The alleged incident is said to have taken place on August 11 in Wythenshawe, Manchester, when Michael Deegan, 74, was walking home from a pub.

He claims that after a disagreement the boy threw the cocktail sausage, which hit him on the shoulder.

The boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and pleaded not guilty, said: "It was only a small sausage from a picnic we'd been having.

"I shouldn't have done it but he was going on at me like he usually does so I just threw it."

His mother described the case as a 'ridiculous waste of time and money'. She said: "He was worried sick that he was going to be sent to prison.

"He was absolutely terrified.

"I am furious at the way the police over-reacted in the first place and was shocked when he was charged with assault and given a court date.

"My son has learning difficulties and attends a special needs school, so explaining this to him was not easy.

"He was panicking quite badly and I had to reassure him that he wouldn't go to jail."

Oliver Gardner, defending, said: "It's crazy - they are criminalising children.

"Where is the discretion or logic on the police's behalf when they charge a 12-year-old with assault with a cocktail sausage?

"It beggars belief that they have put this boy through the trauma of the criminal justice system, locking him up at the police station and then hauling him before the court."

Dianne Oliver, prosecuting, said she would take the case to her superiors who would review the charge.

A spokesman for the CPS said police charged the boy 'without reference' to the CPS.

The CPS lawyer dealing with the case in court asked for it to be adjourned so the matter could be reviewed, he added.

In a case last year, Judge Jonathan Finestein criticised a decision to prosecute a boy of ten for calling his schoolfriend racist names in the playground.

He called the move 'political correctness gone mad'.

The case was later dropped.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said the boy was charged because of three earlier reprimands over his behaviour and that the decision to do so was 'completely in line with standard procedure'.