Policemen Faced A "Relentless Mob"

The "burger wrap brawl", as it should be known to criminologists and social-despairers of the future, reached the ears of the judicial process this week. Croydon Crown Court today heard testimony from the police officers attacked by a mob last year after asking a girl to pick up litter. According to Pc Lathwood, the girl became aggressive at his second request to collect her burger wrapper. She approached, he took her by the arm, which she then proceeded to bite, he says. His colleague, Pc Smith, says he turned around to see the girl with her hand around Lathwood's throat, while a mob had sprung from nowhere and was attacking the officer. It was only the deployment of CS spray and the call for backup that placated the situation, say the officers. Lathwood describes how he felt that he was "trying to save his life" as the attack began, and a local Woolworths employee, who called for assistance, described the mob as "hostile and like animals". The 16-year old girl, and two thirty-something men, all deny charges of violent disorder.