Youngest rioters convicted aged just 12

TWO boys aged 12 have become the youngest Trioters convicted of a criminal offence in the wake of the Southport attack.

- Robert Kellaway

The first youngster admitted two charges of violent disorder after throwing a missile at a police van and taking part in two separate incidents of unrest.

Magistrates heard the child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was part of a group that gathered on July 31 outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Prosecutors said the boy was "filmed by police kicking the front window of a vape shop" and was also seen kicking a bus as it drove past him in Manchester.

He will be sentenced at Manchester Magistrates' Court on September 2.

Another 12-year-old appeared at Liverpool Youth Court charged with violent disorder in Southport on July 30 and also pleaded guilty.

Jessica Pridding, prosecuting, said: "The defendant was seen on CCTV' among the crowd and he appears on the footage to throw something towards the line of uniformed police officers carrying shields. He appears to mount a bicycle and ride away from the police officers." He will be sentenced on September 17.

An 11-year-old boy has been charged with rioting and throwing petrol bombs after disorder in Belfast on July 15. He is due to appear at Belfast Youth Court on September 6.

So far, 927 people have been arrested and 466 charged in relation to the recent disorder, a spokesman for the National Police Chiefs' Council said yesterday.