BOY, 11, IS HELD ON RIOTS

We join the cops for arrests

- SASKIA ROWLANDS

A SUSPECTED rioter aged just 11 was held following a series of dramatic morning raids yesterday as the Mirror joined police on the front line.

The schoolboy, one of the country's youngest riot suspects, was held on suspicion of torching a police car during the disorder that rocked Britain this month.

As officers arrived on doorsteps, senior officers vowed to catch anyone responsible for the unrest.

Our reporter and photographer joined officers from Cleveland Police on a string of busts.

The force which spans 231 square miles from Hartlepool to Stockton-on-Tees - has arrested 110 people since the August 4 chaos.

Our first stop was an address in Redcar, Teesside, where officers collared a local man suspected of criminal damage.

The 25-year-old allegedly hurled bricks at houses and punched doors during carnage in Middlesbrough.

He called our reporter "a little brat" while being escorted from a bungalow in cuffs.

Down the road in Southbank, we watched on as two officers apprehended a 36-year-old man accused of violent disorder.