Boy, 11, Sentenced Over London Riot Bin Theft

An 11-year-old boy has been handed an 18-month youth rehabilitation order for stealing a bin during the riots.

Scotland Yard said the child, from Romford in Essex, is the youngest rioter in London to face prosecution.

The youngster took the waste bin, which was worth £50, from Debenhams in Romford on August 8.

He committed the offence just five days after being given a referral order for arson, criminal damage and carrying a pointed instrument in an unrelated incident.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced at Havering Magistrates' Court in Essex after previously admitting burglary.

District Judge John Woollard said: "You seem to think that nobody can stop the way you behave."

The court heard a group of "males" had smashed the windows of the store, causing £6,000 worth of damage, and a policeman spotted the boy reaching in to take a bin that was on display.

The boy was placed under an 18-month youth rehabilitation order, and told that his local authority will dictate where he lives for the next six months.

He was already under a referral order, put in place at the same court on August 3, for an incident on July 18 when he cut the seats of a bus with a stanley knife and tried to set fire to the exposed foam.

More to follow...