This Article is From Sep 01, 2011
11-year-old boy youngest sentenced for UK riots
London: A 11-year-old boy on Wednesday became the youngest person to be sentenced for stealing a waste bin worth £50 during the recent London riots.
He was given an 18-month youth rehabilitation order at Havering Magistrates' Court in Essex after admitting burglary. The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stole a waste bin from Debenhams in Romford, Essex, on August 8 after the windows of the store were smashed by looters.
He is the youngest rioter in London to face prosecution, according to Scotland Yard. He committed the offence just five days after being given a referral order for arson and criminal damage in an unrelated incident, the BBC reported.
Passing sentence, district judge John Woollard said: "You seem to think that nobody can stop the way you behave." The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, refused to be drawn on the case during a visit to Tottenham, saying "the worst thing would be if politicians are second guessing the judges", but added "if you break the laws... you've got to face the consequences".
The boy, from Romford in Essex, took the waste bin, which was worth £50, after a group of males smashed windows at the store, causing £6,000 of damage.
The boy was told that his local authority will dictate where he lives for the next six months. "My view is that the offence is a very serious one. If you were a little older, you would be ending up in prison, you would be looked after there rather than elsewhere. You need to understand very clearly that you can't get away with committing offences of this nature," Woollard was quoted as saying by the Press Association.
The police have arrested 2,124 people over the unrest in London and 1,221 people have been charged so far. The four-day riots were the worst in England in three decades.