London Riots 2011: 11-Year-Old Boy Charged With Looting

Among the hundreds of people arrested and charged with rioting, looting and other crimes across England was an 11-year-old boy who appeared before a judge.

The child, from Romford in Essex, faced a magistrate at Highbury Corner Youth Court in north London. He confessed to being part of a gang that broke into and looted a Debenhams store on Monday night.

He is believed to be the youngest defendant seen in the Highbury court during current disorders.

Prosecutor Steven Davis told the court: "This was 10:30 pm on Monday evening with a background of serious violence in Romford. Police saw a group of 20-30 youths who were approaching large stores, breaking windows and looting. They saw Debenhams had had its windows broken and they saw [the boy] approach the window that had been smashed, lean in, take a waste bin and run off with it."

According to reports, the boy wore a blue Adidas tracksuit. He gave his name, age and date of birth and pled guilty to burglary (stealing the trash can).

Davis added that when police caught the boy, he said: "I was just taking it to pass on to somebody else."

The court dropped a charge of violent disorder against the lad.

This is not the first time he was in trouble.

Last week, he was reportedly convicted of an unrelated offense and given a referral order.

Defense attorney Vicky Thompson asked the court for a pre-sentence report to be carried out before the boy is sentenced.