Later, when the charges have been made and the judicial process is under way, we can go onto thinking about the larger problem of disaffected young people who seem bent on proving the old dictum that Satan finds mischief for idle hands. More youth clubs, more job opportunities, would help, and it goes without saying – doesn’t it? – that parents must be held accountable for their young. And maybe police can start to take normal, everyday shoplifting – at record levels right now – seriously, because right now, they don’t.
