Chelmsley Wood man cleared of dangling boy over edge of balcony

Jul 17 2009 by Configuration Administrator, Birmingham Mail

A MAN accused of dangling a child by his feet from the balcony of a third-storey flat has been cleared by a jury at Warwick Crown Court.

James Tymon, aged 22, of Longley Walk, Chelmsley Wood, had denied a charge of cruelty to a child by wilfully ill-treating the ten-year-old boy.

He said although he held the boy so his head was hanging down, it was not over the edge of the balcony.

At the end of the three-day trial, in which it was suggested the boy had been put up to making the allegation, the jury took just 46 minutes to find him not guilty. Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said that in July last year Tymon was at a flat in Kingshurst while the boy was visiting with his older brother and younger sister.

There came a time when something happened to cause an argument between the boy and his brother, and he was then “somewhat cheeky” towards people in the flat.

“Unfortunately, what happened thereafter was that at some stage Mr Tymon, who had not liked what he had seen, found himself on the balcony with the boy.”

Mr Jackson said it was possible Mr Tymon had got the boy out there by suggesting he look at a pigeon which was nesting in a redundant television set on the balcony. “Because of what he had done before Mr Tymon picked him up and dangled him by his feet over the balcony in order, say the prosecution, to punish him for having been cheeky,” he alleged.

“You can imagine the effect that had. It was something which was frightening for a child of that age.”

When the boy later told his father what had happened the police were called and Tymon was arrested after going to a police station.

But Mr Tymon denied dangling the boy over the side of the balcony.

He said he had been playing with the boy on the balcony at the time and had picked him up and cradled him so his head was hanging downwards “for about five seconds.”

But he insisted his was within the perimeter of the balcony and that he had not held him over the edge. Sharon Bailey, defending, suggested to the jury he had been “put up to” making up the accusation by his father – although she had not put that to the boy or the other children when questioning them during the trial.