A 15-year-old boy who stole a policeman’s hat and threw a glass bottle at officers during a riot in Bolton town centre has been brought before the courts. The boy, whose identity is subject to reporting restrictions due to his age, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and theft for his role in widespread disorder in Bolton town centre on August 4 this year. The demonstrations came about as part of nationwide demonstrations which saw far-right clashes after the killing of three girls in a mass stabbing in Southport.
Sign up to our newsletters to get the latest stories sent straight to your inbox. Prosecutor J. Deacon showed Manchester Magistrates Court video footage of the boy, dressed in all black and wearing a balaclava, stealing a policeman’s hat before running off with it, near to the entrance of the Octagon car park entrance on Great Moor Street.
The court was then shown footage of the boy throwing a glass bottle towards police at the same location. The policeman was the same officer who was spat on and hit by a 14-year-old boy on the same day. In a victim personal statement read out to the court, the man said he had been a police officer for more than 20 years, and had worked an additional 40 hours on the week of the disorder.
He added: “I became a police officer to keep people safe, to come to work and be subject to this is absolutely disgusting and the most cowardly of acts imaginable. “This is evidenced by the fact that he ran away soon after he behaved in the w.