Two 12-year-olds become youngest to be charged over riots after Southport stabbings
12 August 2024, 14:26 | Updated: 12 August 2024, 14:28
Two 12-year-olds have become the youngest people to be charged after far-right riots swept the country.
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A 12-year-old boy from Southport has been charged with violent disorder in the wake of the killings in Southport on July 29.
The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, is among three males charged over the riot that broke out the day after Bebe King, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Elsie Dot Stancombe were stabbed.
He is due to appear at Merseyside Youth Court on Monday.
The other 12-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of violent disorder while attending Manchester City Magistrates Court today.
He was part of a mob that gathered outside a hotel housing asylum seekers on July 31, prosecutor Tess Kenyon told the court.
He went on to be “filmed by police kicking the front window of a vape shop” during subsequent disorder in Manchester City centre on August 3.
District Judge Joanne Hirst branded the charges “very serious”, claiming this was the first case she had worked on where the defendant was accused of “attending both incidents.”
She said: “He’s more involved in the violence and disorder than any other defendant I’ve seen coming through these courts, adult or child.”
The boy has been remanded to local authority accommodation and will be sentenced on September 2, 2024.
927 people have been arrested and a further 466 charged in the wake of far-right riots across England, Wales and Ireland.
Speaking on the long-term impact of the violent unrest which swept the country, Shabana Mahmood warned the effects will be felt for "months and years to come".
Online groups and social media stoked a fire of unrest following the attacks, with Whatsapp and Telegram chats fuelling far-right misinformation and aiding in the organisation of violent group "thuggery".
Now, justice secretary Shabana Mahmood says the increased prosecutions and numbers passing through the justice system are putting further pressure on courts and prisons.
Ms Mahmood told The Observer: "The justice system has shown it can rise to this challenge. Should further criminality and disorder ensue, we will continue to deliver justice, until the last offender languishes in one of our jails.
"But we must make no mistake. Rising to this challenge has been made harder by doing so within the justice system we inherited from the Conservatives."
Ms Mahmood said there are "record Crown Court backlogs" and prisons are "close to overflowing".
"The impact of these days of disorder will be felt for months and years to come. They make the job of rebuilding the justice system harder," she added.
