Liverpool teenager facing charges over riots got carried away – mum

Three young girls, Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were killed by an attacker at a holiday club in Southport on 29 July.

Widespread unrest followed in towns and cities across the country after false information was shared online saying the suspect was an asylum seeker.

Violent disorder erupted in Southport, Liverpool city centre and Walton, causing injuries to officers and widespread damage.

Anita told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that the first she knew her son was in trouble was when police officers came to her home.

She described being “shocked, gobsmacked, hurt and angry”, adding: “I didn’t bring the kids up like that.”

“He said, ‘I only went down for save the children. I didn’t go down for violence’,” she said.

“He didn’t know what it was about. He only realised when he got into town.

“He went and seen one protest first. Went up seen the other protest and then the police started bunching them all down into town and other kids were throwing things at the police van.”

She said her son picked up a bit of soil which came from a plant pot and aimed it at a police van.

“He got carried away in the moment and then a racist person came over and started shouting at the kids a pile of words and he confronted the man.”

She said he “threw soil at the racist and hit him”.