A judge wished he could force a 15-year-old girl to pick up litter as punishment for her actions which sparked a town centre 'riot'.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, attacked two police officers after they had asked her friend to pick up a burger wrapper she had dropped on July 28 last year.

A crowd formed in North End as the girl tried to escape from the officers, and soon other members of the public had joined in, kicking and punching the officer.

While Judge Stephen Waller, who was sentencing today at Croydon Crown Court, felt the girl had not intended the riot, he said the whole incident began with the litter dropping incident.

He sentenced her to an 18 month community punishment and rehabilitation order including 80 hours unpaid work, which the judge wished could be spent picking up dropped litter in North End.