Boy, 15, detained for machete attack during mass brawl at city cinema

A 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to 18 months’ detention for playing a lead role in a

“reckless and dangerous” cinema complex brawl.

The youth armed himself with a machete and aimed it at a rival’s head after meeting with 50 youngsters at Star City in Nechells, Birmingham, on November 23 last year.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that the complex, including a Vue cinema, was substantially closed after “significant public disorder in some cities across the UK” following the release of gang film Blue Story.

Vue Cinemas decided to withdraw the film after 25 incidents at 16 cinemas, including its Star City site.

Opening the case, Prosecutor Thomas Griffiths told the court a dispute had broken out between two large groups, involving up to

100 young people aged between 12 and 16.

Mr Griffiths said: “The parties were held back by security guards. The defendant brought the machete he had down over his head and towards a member of the other group.

“The strike failed to connect.”

The prosecutor submitted that the offence was aggravated by the fact that members of the public were around and it was in broad daylight.

Defending the boy, James Doyle told the court there was an “element of peer influence” involved in the offence, adding that it was a “planned act of bravado in front of his friends”.

The youth, who was 14 at the time of the brawl, pled guilty to attempted wounding and possession of a bladed article at a previous hearing.

Sentencing the boy yesterday, Judge Avik Mukherjee said: “The weekend of November 23 last year was significant in terms of public disorder in some cities in the UK. These disorders and gatherings coincided with the release of a film called Blue Story.

“Star City was substantially, if not exclusively, closed. You shouldn’t have been there for any reason not just on the account of your age but on the account of the closure of Star City. It is even more inexplicable that you needed to turn up with a machete. I’m satisfied you armed yourself with it before you went to Star City.”

Judge Mukherjee said the youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had armed himself “to use or threaten violence with it” but it was “not clear what the dispute concerned”.

He said: “It is reasonable to conclude that you were expecting a confrontation and you armed yourself.”

The judge told the youth that, had security staff not intervened, the incident “could have become much more unwieldy and out of control”.

He added: “You missed your intended target but only because he moved out of the way. That was good luck rather than anything else. This was reckless, dangerous and caused fear and distress to others present.”

The judge ordered the youth be excluded from the Star City premises for two years and the machete be destroyed.