Sarah Cornish – Consultant Barrister at ZMS Solicitors secures an excellent, non-custodial sentence for a 15-year-old. The child was captured on CCTV, committing a knife-point robbery of the corner store, but all was not what it seemed.

Sarah commented – “It became clear when preparing this case that there was an unusual background. The child was highly vulnerable and there was concern that they had been subject to exploitation by organised, ‘County Lines’ criminal gangs. These concerns were proved to be right and the child had been a victim of what is called in law, Modern Day Slavery.

What the child had experienced as a result of that exploitation and the incidents they had witnessed, provided me with powerful mitigation. This powerful mitigation meant that the court could pass a non-custodial sentence.

This was the best possible outcome and the child was returned to his home, to their family and to work on a rigorous programme with the Youth Offending Service, to ensure a better future.”