21-05-2025
Boys aged 14 and 15 deny launching chair 50 feet off top floor of Westfield Stratford shopping centre in internet prank
Two teenage boys have denied launching a chair 50ft off the top floor of Westfield Stratford shopping centre as part of an internet prank.
The boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested after a viral video showed the incident at Westfield, east London, on March 1, where a chair was thrown and narrowly missed shoppers walking below.
Both pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal damage that recklessly endangered life when they appeared at Stratford Magistrates' Court today.
The charges state the boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, damaged a seat worth £500 intending to destroy or damage it and were 'reckless as to whether the life of another person would thereby be endangered'.
After the chair was thrown, it could be seen falling from the top to the bottom floor of Westfield
Prosecutor Matthew Groves told the court: 'Young people attended the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford on March 1.
'They went to the top floor and whilst there (one boy) picked up a large footstool and threw it over a balcony railing from which it fell to the lower ground floor, a distance of 50ft, narrowly missing members of the public that were walking along the shopping centre.
'The incident was filmed by agreement by (the other boy) with a view to being posted on the internet. Having been posted it came to the attention of the authorities.
'The two young people were identified and interviewed by the police.
'In interview, both boys made admissions as to their involvement.'
The boys were conditionally bailed to appear for trial at the same court on July 3.
