A 13-year-old girl has become the latest youngster to be convicted for her part in rioting in the United Kingdom as a policing body said more than 1000 people had been arrested following days of unrest involving violence, arson and looting as well as racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants.
The riots, which followed the killings of three young girls in the northern English town of Southport, began after the July 29 attack was wrongly blamed on an Islamist migrant.
Violence broke out in cities across England and also in Northern Ireland but there have been fewer instances of unrest since last week after efforts to identify those involved were ramped up.
Many have been swiftly jailed, with some receiving long sentences
The National Police Chiefs' Council said in its latest update that 1024 had been arrested and 575 charged across the UK.
Those arrested include a 69-year-old accused of vandalism in Liverpool.
A 13-year-old girl on Tuesday pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court, prosecutors said, having been seen on July 31 punching and kicking the entrance to a hotel for asylum seekers.
"This alarming incident will have caused genuine fear amongst people who were being targeted by these thugs - and it is particularly distressing to learn that such a young girl participated in this violent disorder," prosecutor Thomas Power said.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted threatening unlawful violence that would cause a person to fear for his or her personal safety while with three or more other people in the Hampshire town.
She sat with her parents throughout the short hearing and a court official said she was granted unconditional bail.
The district judge ordered a pre-sentence report to be made and adjourned for the youngster's sentencing to take place on September 30 at the same court.
According to an analysis by the PA news agency, at least 50 youths under the age of 18 have been charged in connection with the unrest across the UK.
The last time the country had widespread rioting was in 2011, when the fatal shooting of a black man by police triggered several days of street violence.
Fast and tough judicial action was viewed as helping quell the unrest in 2011, when about 4000 people were arrested over several weeks.
with PA
