A teenager who spent more than a year on the run after a violent family confrontation in Birmingham city centre has finally been caught and sent to prison.
Sentencing Delay and Disappearance
Thomas Sweeney junior, who was 18 at the time of the offence, was due to be sentenced in August 2024. He, along with his mother Ellen Sweeney and father Thomas Sweeney senior, had pleaded guilty to violent disorder following a large-scale altercation in the city's Gay Village in July 2023. The incident was captured on high-definition CCTV.
The court had shown leniency by agreeing to postpone Sweeney junior's sentencing so he could get married. However, when the new court date arrived, all three family members failed to appear. It was suspected they had fled back to Ireland. A month later, in September 2024, Judge Dean Kershaw sentenced them in their absence, handing Sweeney junior a term of two years and four months.
Arrest on the Motorway
After over a year in hiding, the now 19-year-old's freedom came to an abrupt end. Prosecutor Alura Bather told Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, January 8, 2026, that Sweeney junior was apprehended five days earlier, on January 3.
His arrest was described as "quite by accident" after Cheshire Police executed a warrant. Officers were alerted to a vehicle he was driving on the M6 southbound. When pulled over, he initially gave a false name before admitting his true identity. A check on the Police National Computer (PNC) revealed he was not only wanted for the Birmingham matter but also for other outstanding issues elsewhere in the country.
Courtroom Excuses Rejected
Appearing via video link from HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, Sweeney junior pleaded guilty to failing to surrender to bail. His defence barrister, Queenie Djan, stated her client had "panicked" because he was young, newly married, and facing a custodial sentence. She said he had since suffered bereavements and decided to return to the UK to face the consequences, claiming he was on his way to Stechford Police Station to hand himself in when arrested.
Judge Kershaw, who was presiding again, completely rejected this claim. He told the defendant: "I showed compassion to you... I allowed you to get married. 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."
The judge took the unusual step of exceeding normal sentencing guidelines for the bail offence to impose an additional punishment. He sentenced Sweeney junior to two months in prison, to be served consecutively to his existing 28-month term.
The Original City Centre Violence
The court was reminded of the shocking scenes that led to the original convictions. In the early hours of July 15, 2023, the Sweeney family, along with at least five other relatives, spilled out of the Glamorous nightclub in the Gay Village.
What followed was a drunken and violent attack on several men and women. Judge Kershaw had previously described it as 'one of the worst' fights ever seen in the city centre. Sweeney junior's specific involvement included punching a man twice and then kicking him 14 times, as well as striking a taxi driver.
Ellen Sweeney, then 39, and Thomas Sweeney senior, then 43 and formerly from Stechford, remain at large and are wanted by police.
