Rioter, 14, let off because of stern scolding from parents

A 14-year-old boy caught up in the post-Southport riots was so sternly told off by his parents that police and prosecutors decided to take no further action.

- MARGARET DAVIS

Director of public prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson said the anger of the mother and father, who marched their son to a police station after discovering he had taken part in the disorder, was more effective than any action the criminal justice system would have taken.

He said some families viewed taking part in the disorder as a leisure activity. “We’ve come across instances, anecdotally, of families regarding it as a day out, to go and just join in the disorder. But conversely, we had an instance where a family marched their 14-year-old to the police station, having seen on social media that that individual had been involved in the disorder,” he said.

“And actually, we took the decision that the wrath that had been visited on that child by his parents was more effective than anything the criminal justice system could deliver. And so we took no further action.”

Mr Parkinson, who took up the post as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in November last year, said prosecutors are “very alive” to the risk of children being criminalised unnecessarily, after becoming involved in the riots which erupted in some parts of the UK in the summer, in the wake of the Southport stabbings.

One of the youngest defendants was a 12-year-old boy, who hit the headlines because his mother chose to fly to Ibiza for a holiday the day before he was due in court.

District Judge Joanne Hirst ordered her to appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court after her sunshine break, where she ordered her to pay £1,200 compensation and go on a parenting course.