Boy who joined riot on 14th birthday sentenced

A boy who joined a riot on his 14th birthday and threw bricks at a police van has been sentenced for his "cowardly and shameful" behaviour.

The teenager joined a mob which goaded police before trying to knock their helmets off outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in the Newton Heath area of Manchester on 31 July.

The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, admitted violent disorder at a previous hearing and said he was "ashamed and sorry" for his actions.

District judge Margaret McCormack, sitting at Manchester Magistrates' Court, condemned his "wicked" behaviour and handed him a 12-month community sentence.

Violence flared across parts of England in the days following the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance club in Southport, Merseyside, on 29 July.

The court was shown CCTV footage of the boy throwing missiles at police vehicles and kicking a bus.

The bus driver was later assaulted, although the 14-year-old was not involved in that attack.

The court also heard the boy did not have racial prejudices but had instead just "joined in" the violence.

Judge McCormack said she accepted he had made a "stupid mistake" and was sorry for his actions.

The boy's mother, who was in court, was ordered to pay £150 compensation to the bus driver.

Another boy, arrested on his 13th birthday for taking part in the same riot, was sentenced at the same court.

The teenager was given a 12-month referral order for throwing objects - including an egg - at police.

Judge McCormack said he and others who had gathered outside the Holiday Inn had been "terrorising people trying to go about their daily lives".

She told him: "You may have been 12 but you knew what you were doing was wrong."

Meanwhile, the youngest person to be brought before the courts over this summer's violence in towns and cities across England was handed a 12-month referral order.

The 12-year-old boy appeared before a judge at Liverpool Crown Court and admitted violent disorder, namely hurling missiles at police during a riot in Southport on 30 July.

Six people admitted charges related to disorder outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Tamworth on 4 August.

A 19-year-old man from Middlesborough was sentenced to 18 months in jail for violent disorder and possessing drugs in a riot in Hartlepool on 31 July.

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