Youths convicted after taking car with children inside

Two teenagers have been found guilty of kidnapping two brothers aged two and four whose family car was stolen as their father dropped off food.

The defendants, aged 15 and 16, both claimed they did not notice the children were in the vehicle when they saw it with its engine running in the Selly Park area of Birmingham.

The driver, aged 15, claimed he took the vehicle to settle a £40 drug debt.

Sentencing will take place next month in the city.

The vehicle was stolen as the father delivered food to a friend on 20 February.

The 15-year-old claimed he took the vehicle to settle the debt, after mistaking the man for a delivery driver.

The youth insisted he did not realise the siblings had been strapped into the rear of the Nissan Note until police arrested him on suspicion of kidnap.

But District Judge Shamim Qureshi accepted the evidence of the boys' father, who told Birmingham Magistrates' Court he shouted to alert the youths to the fact his sons were inside the vehicle minutes before a crash on the A38 Bristol Road.

Finding both defendants guilty of two counts of kidnap, Judge Qureshi said: "The only issue in this case is whether the defendants took the children without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.

"Their defence in this case is that they were unaware that the two children were in the car."

Ruling that the younger youth had decided to steal the Nissan and the other boy "went along with" the theft, the judge said common sense meant the children would not have remained quiet during the entire journey.

Both defendants admitted aggravated vehicle taking, incorporating dangerous driving, at a previous hearing, but had denied kidnap.

The two-year-old suffered a cut to his mouth and a bruised shoulder caused by the straps of his car seat.

The older youth was bailed until sentencing at the same court on May 17. The other defendant was remanded into youth detention and will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on May 19.

Neither youth can be named because of his age.

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