Bail given to boys who stabbed the lad in Altrincham

[Tiredemma]

I can't help but be bewildered by this? Closed court with press and public not allowed and then bail given to the alleged murderer.
Is this privilege given because the alleged offenders are private school boys from wealthy families?? If so it doesn't feel right?

I agree it doesn’t seem right but maybe the evidence isn’t there yet.

Is this privilege given because the alleged offenders are private school boys from wealthy families

No.

As far as I can tell there is only one alleged offender. He hasn't been convicted of anything yet. We try not to lock up people who may be innocent so there is a presumption in favour of bail under the Bail Act 1976 unless there is a good reason to refuse. Whilst the reasons for the decision in this case have not been released, nor has the judge released the bail conditions, the fact that bail has been granted means the court was satisfied that there is no significant risk that the accused will commit another offence causing physical or mental injury to someone else.

The bail would quite likely to have been granted to someone who wasn't from a wealthy family, since bail is the default, even for a charge like murder. The secret hearing probably less likely to have been asked for by someone less well off relying on a regular duty solicitor. Very hard to say whether it would have been granted or not to someone else as we don't know the circumstances. I think it's naive to think our court system isn't a little biased in favour of the well off, if only because most judges can empathize with the lives of the wealthy due to experience better than they can the lives of the poor.