Thomas Sweeney junior, then aged 18, asked a judge to delay his sentencing so he could get married but then he failed to show up for his court date
Thomas Sweeney junior(Image: )
A teenager who went on the run after being involved in a massive family scrap in Birmingham city centre has finally been caught and jailed.
Thomas Sweeney junior was due to be sentenced in August 2024 following a wild incident in the Gay Village a year earlier which was captured on crystal clear CCTV.
The then 18-year-old along with his co-convicted mother Ellen Sweeney and father Thomas Sweeney senior admitted violent disorder and had asked the court to push back the date in order for him to get married first.
FULL STORY: Mum of 12 and family on the run after one of worst city centre scraps ever seen
But when it came to the sentencing all three failed to show and went off the radar, with it being suspected they had fled back to Ireland.
A month later Judge Dean Kershaw sentenced them to jail terms in their absence with Sweeney junior receiving two years and four months.
After more than a year on the run it was confirmed at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday (January 8) that the now 19-year-old had been caught.
Prosecutor Alura Bather said: “The defendant was picked up on the 3rd of January this year – five days ago – quite by accident when a warrant was executed by Cheshire Police.
“They were alerted to a vehicle he was driving on the M6 southbound on that date.
“They pulled him over and he originally gave his name as Thomas Conroy but then gave his own name.
“Having looked up his name in the PNC (Police National Computer) they discovered he was not only wanted for this matter but it seems to be other outstanding matters elsewhere in the country.
“He was arrested and promptly brought to court.”
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Sweeney junior, appearing on a video link from HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, pleaded guilty to failing to surrender to bail.
Queenie Djan, defending, said: “He explained he was aware he was looking at a custodial sentence.
“He was incredibly young at the time, he is still a young adult.
“Essentially he panicked. He was newly married and he went back to Ireland.
“In that time he suffered the loss of his grandmother and grandfather.
“He then decided as he got a little bit older it was time to face the consequences of his actions in the UK.”
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Sweeney junior claimed he was on his way to Stechford Police Station to hand himself in when he was arrested.
However Judge Kershaw, presiding over his case again, ‘completely rejected’ that.
He said: “I showed compassion to you by not sentencing you knowing it was likely to be an immediate term of detention and therefore didn’t do that.
“I allowed you to get married and said you would be sentenced on August 29.
“You threw that back at the court, completely in the face of the court.
“You had no regard to what the court tried to do to give you some form of compassion. You simply absconded.”
Judge Kershaw made the unusual step of going above the usual legal guidelines for the offence, in order to give him a longer punishment.
He sentenced him to two months to be served on top of his previous 28-month term.
Ellen Sweeney, Thomas Sweeney senior, and Thomas Sweeney junior leave Birmingham Crown Court.(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
The three Sweeneys, along with at least five other relatives, were involved in violent and drunken scenes after spilling out of Glamorous nightclub in the Gay Village in the early hours of July 15, 2023.
The family attacked a number of men and women in what Judge Kershaw described as ‘one of the worst’ fights to ever take place in the city centre.
Sweeney junior’s involvement included punching a man twice and then kicking him 14 times as well as striking out at a taxi driver.
Ellen Sweeney, then 39, and dad Thomas Sweeney senior, then 43, previously from Stechford, remain at large.
