Sentencing of disorder car attack teenager postponed after paperwork error

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A judge has adjourned sentencing of a teenager who attacked a car with his fists and feet amid false rumours of a far-right march in Birmingham.

Muhammed Ali, 19, pleaded guilty on Monday to using or threatening unlawful violence in the city on August 5, but denied a charge of causing racially aggravated criminal damage to a Skoda Octavia on the same date.

Ali appeared on Wednesday at Birmingham Crown Court via videolink from Brinsford young offender institution.

The court heard that paperwork with incorrect details of his plea to the criminal damage charge had been sent by magistrates’ court officials.

The lower court heard that Ali, of Yardley Green Road, Bordesley Green, Birmingham, admitted causing damage to the car, but had pleaded not guilty to the charge on the grounds his behaviour was not racially or religiously motivated.

Adjourning the case for sentence on October 7, Judge Melbourne Inman told Ali, who was remanded in custody: “I am sorry that we can’t deal with the case today but it’s in your interests to make sure that everything is in order.

“But as I have been told, it isn’t at present, through no fault of the lawyers.”

Judge Inman was told during the hearing that others, including an as-yet-unidentified male, were involved in the attack on a Skoda car, which was being driven by a white motorist through slow-moving traffic.