Boy, 12, believed to be youngest convicted following UK riots

Police Officers walk past a burnt out police vehicle as they are deployed on the streets of Hartlepool (Owen Humphreys/PA)

A 12-year-old boy is believed to have become the youngest person to be convicted of a criminal offence in connection with public disorder in the UK.

The youngster admitted two charges of violent disorder after throwing a missile at a police van and taking part in two separate incidents of unrest in Manchester at the city’s magistrates’ court on Monday.