Yob who threw a 5kg sofa from a balcony at busy shopping centre jailed

A 16-year-old boy who hurled a 15kg sofa over a shopping centre balcony, narrowly missing a shopper, has been jailedfor eight months.

The teen, who cannot be named due to his age, launched the blue chair on March 1, narrowly missing a person walking on the floor below at Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, East London. Footage of the stunt went viral on social media before police arrested him and a pal. When quizzed by officers, he shrugged the incident off as "not that deep" and admitted he often tossed objects from bridges as part of so-called pranks. In court, he pleaded guilty to recklessly causing a public nuisance and criminal damage.

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Prosecutor Noel Shaw said: "Clearly, the most serious factor is that there was a realistic risk of extremely serious injury, life-changing injury, to somebody completely unconnected with either of the defendants. What the court has seen is the defendant picking up what is described as - although I wouldn't have used the word - a sofa, certainly a very heavy piece of furniture and throwing it over a balcony.

"What one sees in the footage is effectively a type of stairwell - a tiered gallery situation - one can see that it has landed on a place where people are normally walking in the shopping centre. This all occurred on 1 March this year, he was interviewed on the 4 March - to summarise, he admits throwing, he says he intended to do damage to the sofa stool, he admits being reckless.

"He thought the worst that might happen is that is that someone might require hospital treatment, he was apologetic. He's stated that he and his co-defendant regularly indulge in pranks, including throwing objects off bridges and trains.

"He intended to throw the sofa stool over, off the balcony, knowing that there was nothing to prevent it from falling into the place below.

"And, knowing that it is a place in which people were walking without any protective clothing or any other sort of protection." The boy's friend, aged 15, pleaded not guilty to both charges and will face trial on December 2.

Mark Tooley, who was representing the 16-year-old, said he had been "showing off." He said: "Perhaps he may well have sought to make friends in the wrong kind of way - it was called showing off when I was a kid.

"It still applies here doing something criminally stupid and reckless, but happily causing no harm. He is an immature young man yet to come anywhere close to full maturity and understanding: rehabilitation is the key."

Asked if he wished to speak, the boy told Stratford Youth Court he was "really sorry" and asked for a second chance.

But District Judge Shanta Deonarine said the act was so serious that "no other sentence is appropriate other than a custodial sentence." She added: "Even the impact of watching that would be enough for people to feel quite mentally unsure and a little bit frightened walking in shopping centres."

The judge said the sofa narrowly missing a shopper made the offence worse, branding it an intentional and deliberate act. She handed down an eight-month detention and training order, half of which will be served in a secure training facility.