NO LET-OFF FOR RIOT CHILDREN

Minister's snub for bid to quash the convictions

- BY DAVE BURKE Political Correspondent

A MINISTER has rejected calls for children involved in last summer's riots to have their convictions torn up.

Labour's City Minister Emma Reynolds said the youngsters "need to feel the full force of the law".

She added: "We've got to be tougher on these things, not softer, in my view.

"How can we have a rule of law that is a deterrent if we just wipe people's criminal records?"

The Children's Commissioner, Dame Rachel de Souza, has called for the convictions to be quashed.