Mother of riots teen killer convicted for covering it up

Her 17-year-old son, Darrell Desuze, of the same address, is waiting to hear his fate for delivering the fatal punch which killed 68-year-old Richard Mannington Bowes during the disorder on August 8 last year.

He admitted manslaughter last week after earlier admitting four counts of burglary, and is due to be sentenced next month.

His 31-year-old mother, a student at South Bank University, tried to destroy the clothes he had been wearing on the fatal night in a failed bid to save him from being caught.

Gary Dolby prosecuting said: "Although it is a mother's instinct to protect her child this conviction shows that Lavinia Desuze's actions were wholly inappropriate and criminal.

"In a bid to try and ensure her son would not be caught for the crimes he had committed, Desuze destroyed the recognisable clothing he had been wearing.

"This act could have had a detrimental effect on the case against her son if it had been the primary evidence available."

She will be sentenced alongside her son at Inner London Crown Court on April 17.