Two boys aged 12 youngest to be convicted for the riots

Two 12-year-old boys have become the youngest people to be convicted in connection with the nationwide public disorder.

- HOLLY EVANS

One of the boys admitted throwing a missile at a police van as he pleaded guilty to two charges of violent disorder during two separate incidents in Manchester.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was part of a group that gathered outside a Holiday Inn hotel in Manchester on 31 July. Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard how he was filmed by police “kicking the front window of a vape shop” and was seen kicking a bus.

The other 12-year-old youth admitted a charge of violent disorder at Liverpool Youth Court, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

As of Monday, 975 people had been arrested with 546 charged following the two weeks of violence that started after three children were killed in an attack at a dance studio in Southport.

Misinformation about the ethnicity and religion of the suspect led to widespread rioting across the UK, with police tackling violent crowds in London, Hartlepool, Liverpool, Rotherham and Blackpool.

Yesterday, the wife of a Conservative councillor appeared in court accused of encouraging people on social media to attack hotels housing asylum seekers.