A MAN and a 16-year-old boy have been charged with inciting violence in the West Midlands – via Facebook.
The pair are the first in the region to face prosecution for allegedly creating and posting on a Facebook page during last week’s disorder in Birmingham, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton.
Danny Cook, aged 21, and a 16-year-old, both from Worcester, who cannot be named for legal reasons have been charged with inciting riots via the social network website.
Cook is alleged to have set up the “Letz start a riot” Facebook page and the youth is accused of posting a comment on the site.
The page allegedly referred to Birmingham, Droitwich, Worcester and Kidderminster.
Cook, and the 16-year-old youth will appear at Worcester Magistrates Court on August 23.
They are both charged with intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of widespread thefts and criminal damage, contrary to sections 44 and 58 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.
The Crown Prosecution Service has warned that there will be more arrests in the West Midlands for people who tried to encourage or incite disorder during last week’s riots.
A spokesman for the West Midlands CPS added: “There will be more arrests relating to similar charges in the coming weeks and months.
“Clearly the priority for the police at the moment is tracking down the people who carried out acts of looting and violent disorder.
“Evidence has been recovered and served and there will be more knocks at doors in relation to this.”
Last week two men were each jailed for four years for plotting riots on Facebook.
Perry Sutcliffe, aged 22, from Marston, and Jordan Blackshaw, aged 20, from Warrington, were locked up for four years at Chester Crown Court even though their Facebook plans were stopped by police who intercepted the messages.
Unemployed landscape gardener Sutcliffe, who has just one previous conviction, created a Facebook page entitled ‘The Warrington Riots’ and urged 400 friends to join him in creating mayhem.
When he woke up the following morning with a hangover, he removed the page and apologised, saying it had been a joke. His message was distributed to 400 Facebook contacts, but no rioting broke out as a result.
Petty criminal Blackshaw created an event called ‘Smash Down in Northwich Town’ and invited 147 people to gather at a McDonald’s in the centre of the historic town for a looting spree.
Both pages were quickly spotted by the police and taken down before any violence occurred.