SERVING in the First World War may be the best thing that happened to teenage Keighley criminal Walter Brooke.

The young thief learned a trade while incarcerated at Calder Farm Reformatory School, which enabled him to specialise while in theArmy Service Corps.

In 1910, at the age of 14, Walter was caught stealing and trying to pawn a pair of boots, then a month later was again caught stealing a shirt.

Found guilty at Keighley Borough Children’s Court, the mill worker spent five years at the reformatory school where he learned to become a saddler.

Almost immediately after being released in 1915 he enlisted, setting off for Mediterranean and spending the rest of the war in Egypt.

His war service was uneventful apart from a 24-day punishment for disobedience and nine attacks of malaria.

A Men of Worth spokesman said: “It looks like Walter went off the rails in his early teens but when taken away from the bad influences he learned the trade of saddler whilst at reform school.

“He took this into the army with him, where he probably worked with horses as a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps.”

Walter died in Keighley in 1977 at the age of 83.