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.
1. South Yorkshire's baby faced killers who are still serving time
Top row, left to right: Thomas Hardiman; Xander Howarth; Shea Heeley and Levan Menzies Middle row, left to right: Ruben Moreno; Isaac Ramsey; Boe Barton Bottom row, left to right:Yaqeen Arshad; Emar Wiley; Jabari Fanty and Kyle Pickles
2. Thomas Hardiman and Xander Howarth
In December 2023, two Sheffield teenagers were told they must stay in prison until they are in their late 30s, after they were found guilty of murdering 19-year-old Adam Adbul-Basit who was left to die on a stranger's doorstep after being fatally stabbed. Xander Howarth, of Richmond Park View, Handsworth, Sheffield, and Thomas Hardiman, of Edenhall Road, Deep Pit, Sheffield, then both aged 18, were sentenced to life imprisonment for Adam's murder. The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, told the pair: "I have no doubt whatsoever that the backdrop to this case was drug dealing. Howarth, you had sold drugs for Adbul-Basit, both in Sheffield and Grimsby. I have no doubt whatsoever that both of you were on bad terms over drug dealing." He continued: "Three young lives have been wrecked by knife crime related to drug dealing." Howarth and Hardiman denied murdering Adam, but a jury convicted them of the offence on December 4, 2023, following a trial at the same court which began in November 2023. The fatal attack took place on Smelter Wood Road in the Stradbroke area of Sheffield at lunchtime on Monday, May 9, 2023, and despite the best efforts of medics, Adam died from fatal stab wounds outside a stranger's home on the road at just after 1pm. Judge Richardson set the minimum term both Howarth and Hardiman must spend behind bars at 19 years. This means they will be at least 37-years-old before they can be considered for release.
3. Shea Heeley
In March 2018, Shea Heeley, aged 19, of Doe Quarry Lane, Dinnington, was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 24 and a half years for murdering Dinnington schoolgirl, Leonne Weeks, in January 2017.
4. Yaqeen Arshad
Judge Sarah Wright sent Yaqeen Arshad to begin a prison term of at least 14 years during a Sheffield Crown Court sentencing hearing on Monday, March 20, 2023, after jurors found him guilty of murdering 31-year-old Richard Dentith during a violent incident on Grimesthorpe Road, Burngreave, in the early hours of April 7, 2022. The identity of Arshad, of De La Salle Drive, Pitsmoor, can be reported, after Star court reporter, Jon Cooper, successfully applied for a reporting restriction protecting Arshad’s identity until his 18th birthday to be lifted. Arshad was 16 when he stabbed Mr Dentith to death. He was out with ‘an older friend apparently intending to smoke cannabis,’ at the time, Sheffield Crown Court heard. In the moments leading up to the fatal confrontation, Mr Dentith had walked past Arshad and his older friend as they were stood in a bus shelter on. Arshad began pursuing Mr Dentith, but the reason for that is not known. Mr Dentith suffered a stab wound to his arm, which severed an artery, causing him to bleed to death. Detective Inspector John Fitzgibbons, who led the investigation, said Arshad had refused to take ‘any responsibility for his actions’.