Asbo boy, 14, on equipped to steal charge

By Sam Underwood

A teenager, regarded by police as one of Brighton's worst young offenders, has appeared in court charged with going equipped to burgle.

Korrel Kennedy, 14, was arrested in the garden of a house in Hartington Place, Brighton, along with his accomplice, Jamie Jacquemai, 19, from Taunton Road, Bevendean, on November 9.

Magistrates in Brighton were yesterday forced to issue a warrant for the arrest of Jacquemai after he failed to attend court.

Initially, the magistrates were told by one of Jacquemai's friends, coincidentally also in court, that the defendant had broken both his legs and therefore could not attend.

This was later found to be untrue when officers arrested him at his home shortly afterwards.

Both Jacquemai and Kennedy pleaded not guilty to charges of going equipped for burglary.

In a police interview, Kennedy claimed they were simply garden-hopping - jumping over walls to get through the gardens.

The court heard that the police helicopter was scrambled after a householder in Hartington Terrace, which runs parallel to Hartington Place, with the gardens of both in between, called police to report seeing an individual skulking around on a neighbour's property.

David James told the court he initially thought the figure was a neighbour in their garden but became suspicious when the person began to climb the garden wall and stood on top of it.

Mr James called police and, after turning his own garden lights on, saw one of his patio chairs had been moved across the garden and placed next to the fence to act as a step.

PC Collins, who attended the incident, told the court he had been guided to the defendants' hiding place by the police helicopter's thermal imaging camera, which had located a heat source in bushes next to a shed.

Joined by colleagues, PC Collins found the pair crouched on the ground in bushes next to each other.

Kennedy, of Gladstone Place, Brighton, was found to have been carrying a pair of black gloves, while a plastic glove found in the garden is believed to belong to Jacquemai.

David Packer, prosecuting, told the court Kennedy has a previous conviction for going equipped to burgle and a reprimand for the same offence. He was also found with a pair of bolt cutters on a seperate occassion.

Mr Packer said: "Korrel has a propensity to equip himself to commit crime."

The trial continues.