Girl Admits Attack After Viral Facebook Video

15 July 2015, 17:30 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Magistrates court/justice

A 16-year-old girl has been sent ``thousands of death threats'' after she was shown in a viral video attacking two teenagers in Birmingham, a court has heard.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reason, admitted robbery and assault when she appeared at Birmingham Youth Court.

She told police she could not remember anything about the incident happening at about 10pm on Saturday, having downed a bottle of vodka in the hours beforehand.

However a video showing the assault in the Northfield area has been circulating on social media site Facebook for the last two days and has been viewed at least six million times.

As a result of the adverse publicity, the girl's solicitor revealed the teenager was kept in custody by police ``for her own welfare'', after the youngster's identify was revealed online.

Her lawyer Amy Nuttall told the court her client's mobile phone number had also been leaked on the internet, while unknown cars had been ``parked outside her mother's address'' at 3am.

Ms Nuttall said: ``Following the public outcry over this, I don't think she'll want to leave her accommodation at night.

``She was receiving thousands of death death threats, after her mobile phone was provided on the internet.

``The phone has been got rid of.''

The girl, who has finished school, said she was ``disgusted'' with herself after being shown a video of what happened by police, following her arrest.vs one another.

The teenager then accused two other girls in the other group of ``of giving her a dirty look''.

``She forced the first girl to get on her hands and knees to apologise,'' added the prosecutor, before hitting her in the face with her handbag.

The teenage attacker then turned to her other victim.

Mrs Murgatroyd said: ``When she refused to get on her hands and knees, she was thrown to the floor, held down and forced to apologise.''

That victim's handbag was then rifled, with the attacker pocketing her iPhone and removing the girl's purse and passing it around the group of friends she was with.

The court heard how the teenager told one of her victims if she ``grassed'' she would come and ``beat her up''.

In a victim impact statement, the youth said she had been left scared to go out.

District judge Shamim Qureshi asked the prosecution about a possible motive for the attack after one witness who filmed the incident told police the teenage girl had been put up to it by another young man.

``You've got witnesses here saying that she was egged on to do this,'' he told the prosecutor.

``Who else is under investigation in this matter - has anybody else been arrested?''

Mrs Murgatroyd said she was not aware of any other arrests and that one other girl was due to be spoken to by police.

The teenage girl, in court wearing black leggings, a grey sweater, and supported by her mother, spoke only to confirm her name, date of birth and address during the hearing.

Judge Quershi explained to her there was a ``high probability'' she would be handed a detention and training order of up to eight months when she is due to be sentenced next month, telling her: ``That's the one that locks you up.''

The judge also warned any compensation and costs would come out of her parents' pocket, because of the girl's young age.

He remanded the teenager to local authority accommodation, with conditions, for a pre-sentence report until the next hearing on August 3.

Meanwhile, police have urged anyone who shared Facebook and social media users to remove the video from their accounts and avoid sharing or publishing the footage.