Anger drove girl to smash curfew tag

FURIOUS teenage tearaway Faye Szulc smashed up her electronic curfew equipment when police and social services turned up at her Ely home, to take away her sister's children.

"She was upset and her sister was upset," solicitor Jacqui Baldwin told Ely magistrates on Thursday.

"She was told that because she was a victim of violence, she was not able to offer adequate protection to the children."

Szulc, 19, now living with her father in Churchgate Street, Soham, could have faced jail after admitting that she had breached her curfew order.

The curfew was imposed on Szulc back in November.

At that time she admitted trespassing on the railway and causing chaos as she threatened to jump from a bridge.

She had stolen two bottles of spirits from Waitrose in Ely, and breached her anti-social behaviour order.

Magistrates were told this week that they could either prohibit Szulc from contacting her sister's children, or re-sentence the teenager to custody.

Her father's address was considered unsuitable by social services because it was close to where her sister and her children were living.

"Social services are not happy with her living there, because her sister's children are at significant risk of harm if she lives at that address," said court duty officer for the probation service, Maxine Bailey

Miss Baldwin said social services had not indicated any problem with Szulc living with her sister in Ely when the curfew order was first imposed.

"She had been a great assistance to her sister, so was surprised to see police attend on January 12 and remove the children," she said.

"It was late in the evening and my client became emotionally upset."

Szulc has been attending alcohol rehabilitation and supervision appointments recently, and her father has kept her under curfew.

The magistrates ordered Szulc to continue living with her father, added a further month to her curfew, and prohibited her from contacting her sister's children for three months.