Hundreds of people have been arrested since riots erupted on July 30 after misinformation spread online that the suspect in a knife attack that killed three children was a Muslim asylum-seeker….reports Asian Lite News
A 15-year-old boy on Thursday became the first person to be charged with rioting following a wave of violent unrest that swept across the UK. Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said the teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, would appear at South Tyneside Youth Court later Thursday and be asked to enter a plea.
He was charged following disorder in Sunderland in northern England on Aug. 2.
“This defendant is one of a number of individuals who we expect will be charged with riot,” said Gale Gilchrist, chief crown prosecutor for northeast England.
Hundreds of people have been arrested since riots erupted on July 30 after misinformation spread online that the suspect in a knife attack that killed three children was a Muslim asylum-seeker. Protesters fueled by far-right activists attacked a mosque in the town of Southport, where the girls were killed, and the violence soon spread to cities and towns across the country.
Many have been charged with violent disorder and sentenced, but no one had so far been charged with rioting, a more serious offense that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
Last week, a 26-year-old man who used social media to encourage people to torch hotels that house asylum-seekers was sentenced to more than three years in prison.
The boy from Sunderland had initially pleaded guilty to violent disorder and burglary at a hearing on Saturday and was due to be sentenced earlier.
However, Northumbria Police said after “hundreds of hours” of CCTV footage was reviewed, detectives believed the boy was “allegedly involved in further criminality”.
It added the CPS was then given new evidence which meant when he appeared at court, his charges were upgraded to a more serious charge of riot.
While he is the first person in England to be charged, three men and a boy from Northern Ireland were charged at the weekend with riot. Chris Wilson, defending the Sunderland boy, told the court the fresh charge “raises a number of complex issues and those issues may well have far wider repercussions”.
He said the situation “doesn’t sit comfortably with me, professionally or personally”. Wilson asked for an adjournment of two weeks to discuss the evidence with the defendant.
District Judge Zoe Passfield said the new charge must have come as a “surprise” to the boy, who sat at the back of the courtroom with his mother, with his father watching from the public gallery. “It is an unusual situation when a new charge is brought after the person has pleaded guilty and it opens up complications that I and the lawyers need to consider carefully,” she said. “I am sure what has happened today has come as a surprise, and will be confusing for you.”
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