Teen boy admits to 'participating in riots' in Bolton

The disturbances gripped the town centre around Victoria Square and Bradshawgate on Sunday August 4 as riot police kept groups of demonstrators and counter demonstrators apart.

A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was brought before Manchester Magistrates Court, sitting as a youth court, on the afternoon of Tuesday August 13.

Prosecutor Suzanne Ludlow said the charge related to the boy “participating in riots” in Bolton town centre on August 4.

Police kept groups apart on Victoria Square (Image: Henry Lisowski)

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

Addressing the 16-year-old defendant, District Judge Lucy Hogarth: “You were involved in an extremely serious incident where real harm was caused around the country by individual people involving themselves in what was happening.”

The boy was bailed and will be sentenced at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on September 17.

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Police officers with riot gear, on horseback and with dogs remained on the scene in Bolton town centre long into the afternoon on Sunday August 4.

  Just a day earlier, on Saturday August 3 disturbances had also broken out in Manchester around the Piccadilly Gardens area.

This was part of a wave of unrest that had swept across the country in the wake of the Southport stabbings earlier that week.