Mother, 21, who put her child 'at risk' after taking it to riot weeps (2024)

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A mother who put her own child at risk when she took them to a riot outside a migrant hotel sobbed in the dock today.

Nevey Smith, 21, wept throughout the hearing at Manchester magistrates' court as she admitted a charge of violent disorder after she threw 'liquid' from a bottle at police in Newton Heath on July 31 when she 'lost her temper'.

Smith, of West Street, Failsworth, was taking the child in a pushchair to see her grandmother when she spotted her auntie standing and chatting with other people near the hotel.

Today she said she was 'deeply sorry' for her attack on the police as a judge told her: 'You put your own child at risk.'

Prosecutor Tess Kenyon said that there was a large-scale disturbance outside a hotel on Oldham Road, during which Smith was seen to throw a liquid from a bottle towards the police officers.

'This was after two people who were seeking asylum had gone into the hotel,' she said. 'She had a child in a stroller with her at the time.'

Mitigating, Robert Moussalli said his client was 'deeply sorry'.

'She was taking her child to her grandmother's when she saw her auntie standing with some people near to the hotel and went to talk to her,' he said.

'Then people started shouting and she moved to the front of the group and her auntie went to the back with her child. She wasn't planning to do anything.'

He said Smith had thrown water, but it had not made contact with the officers.

He added that she 'lost her temper' when someone from behind the police 'shouted at her'.

'I accept she brought it entirely on herself,' Mr Moussalli added.

Granting her bail with stringent conditions, District Judge Joanne Hirst said: 'I am prepared to give you one opportunity. You put your own child at risk.'

Meanwhile, adesperate grandmother said today that she had reached the end of her tether with her 12-year-old grandson branded by a judge as 'Britain's worst rioter' – adding that she does not know how he can be helped back onto the straight and narrow.

The boy - whose father is in prison - was in court yesterday where he admitted joining two mob rampages through Manchester in three days.

His mother looked on tearfully as a judge said he was 'more involved in the violence and disorder than any other defendant'.

The boy was warned he would face consequences as the judge told him: 'It's time to stop letting your mum down now.'

But the lout's exasperated grandmother today claimed she spent seven months looking after the boy before he clashed with her disabled son and messed up her home.

He then went back to stay with his mother - and had gone missing for a week before getting involved in rioting.

Yesterday, a youth court in Manchester was told that the boy was involved in two incidents of disorder within the space of four days.

Prosecutor Tess Kenyon said he was in a group gathered outside a Holiday Inn hotel in Manchester that housed asylum seekers on July 31, two days after the Southport stabbings.

She said he was seen on video 'handing a rock to another youth during the disorder' and kicking the side of a bus as it drove past.

His mother told the court he had ADHD and went to live with his grandmother for seven months because of his behaviour at home but returned 'as she couldn't handle him'.

District Judge Hirst said the case was the first she had dealt with of a person attending both incidents.

She added: 'He's more involved in the violence and disorder than any other defendant I've seen coming through these courts, adult or child.'

Manchester