Teenager caught after year on run for Birmingham city centre family brawl

 A teenager who fled after being embroiled in a massive family brawl in Birmingham city centre has finally been apprehended and imprisoned.

Thomas Sweeney junior was scheduled for sentencing in August 2024 following a chaotic incident in the Gay Village a year prior, which was captured on high-quality CCTV footage.

The then 18 year old, alongside his co-accused mother Ellen Sweeney and father Thomas Sweeney senior, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and had requested the court postpone proceedings so he could marry beforehand. However, when sentencing day arrived, all three defendants failed to appear and vanished, with authorities believing they had returned to Ireland.

A month afterwards, Judge Dean Kershaw handed down custodial sentences in their absence, with Sweeney junior receiving two years and four months behind bars. Following more than 12 months as a fugitive, Birmingham Crown Court confirmed on Thursday (January 8) that the now 19 year old had been arrested reports Birmingham Live.

Prosecutor Alura Bather explained: "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."

Sweeney junior, appearing via video link from HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, admitted 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."

Sweeney junior insisted he was heading to Stechford Police Station to turn himself in when officers arrested him. However, Judge Kershaw, presiding over his case once more, 'completely rejected' that claim.

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 took the extraordinary measure of exceeding the standard legal guidelines for the offence, with the aim of imposing a more severe punishment.

He handed down a two-month sentence to be served consecutively with his prior 28-month term. The trio of Sweeneys, along with at least five other family members, were embroiled in violent and drunken chaos after leaving Glamorous nightclub in the Gay Village in the wee hours of 15 July 2023.

The family assaulted several men and women in what Judge Kershaw labelled as 'one of the worst' brawls ever witnessed in the city centre.

Sweeney junior's participation involved punching a man twice and then delivering 14 kicks, as well as lashing out at a taxi driver. Ellen Sweeney, aged 39 at the time, and father Thomas Sweeney senior, then 43, formerly of Stechford, remain at large.