Two teenagers plead guilty to rioting following Tamworth disorder

Two teenagers have pleaded guilty to rioting offences following the violent disorder in Tamworth last summer.

Both of the boys, aged 17 and 14, who can’t be named for legal reasons because of their age, pleaded guilty to riot – unlawful violence at Cannock Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (30 January). The 17-year-old also pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker.

We’ve been working hard to trawl through all of the footage from 4 August in Tamworth to identify those responsible and to build the evidence needed to take them to court.

Both of the boys now become the third and fourth people in Staffordshire convicted of rioting, the most serious offence of the Public Order Act 1986.

They are due to be sentenced at Cannock Magistrates’ Court on 4 April.

Some officers didn’t think they would be going home that night because of the level of violence they faced.

In December last year, we arrested our 200th suspect in connection with the violent disorder in Stoke-on-Trent and Tamworth. A total of 82 people have now been charged across our investigation, and more will follow.

A team of dedicated detectives and staff are continuing to work tirelessly to gather all of the evidence needed to secure justice against those responsible for acts of extreme violence.