A 12-year-old boy yawned and was told to take his feet down from the front of the dock as a judge discussed with lawyers when he should go on trial accused of murdering a “wonderful and beautiful lady with a heart of gold”.
The youngster appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday accused of running over 60-year-old Marcia Grant with her own car.
Mrs Grant died outside her home in the Greenhill area of Sheffield on Wednesday.
The boy, who cannot be named, sat in the dock in Court 7 with three staff from his secure accommodation and a court security officer.
Dressed in a light-brown hooded tracksuit, he gazed around the court as the lawyers discussed the case, occasionally leaning back, putting his hands behind his head and looking up at the journalists and police officers sitting in the public gallery.
At one point he yawned and was also told by one of the officers accompanying him to take his feet down from the front wall of the dock.
The defendant spoke at the beginning of the hearing to confirm his name and again at the end, to acknowledge that he understood what was happening when the judge explained what was going to happen next.
The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, said the case had to be prioritised due to the age of the defendant and he fixed a provisional trial date for August 14.
Judge Richardson dispensed with his normal robes for the hearing, as did prosecutor Ian Goldsack and Ben Campbell, who was defending the boy.
He said everything possible should be done to bring the case to trial in August but he set a fall-back date of October 3.
The judge said there will be a case management hearing on May 5 at 2pm.
He remanded the boy into secure youth detention accommodation after a 20-minute-long hearing.
Mrs Grant was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene of Wednesday’s incident outside her house in Hemper Lane, Greenhill.
The boy is also charged with possession of a bladed article relating to a silver kitchen knife alleged to have been found by police called to the incident.
Mrs Grant’s family released a statement after her death which said: “Marcia was a warm, loving and dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend and a pillar of her community.”
A number of floral tributes have been laid outside her semi-detached home.
One message attached to the flowers said: “You were such a wonderful and beautiful lady with a heart of gold.”
Another said: “Marcia was such a lovely lady.”
