A schoolboy who hurled a 15 kilogram seat off the top floor at Westfield Stratford shopping centre for a prank told police: ‘It’s not that deep.’
The 15-year-old boy admitted launching the blue chair some 50ft downwards towards shoppers at the busy mall in east London.
He admitted criminal damage of the £500 chair and recklessly causing a public nuisance while a second 15-year-old boy, who filmed the incident, denied the charges at Stratford Youth Court.
Elizabeth Ajayi, prosecuting, said: ‘From the footage that has been recovered both from CCTV and a broadcast circulating on social media, on the 1 March 2025 at about 10.30am at night the two defendants were seen at Westfield Shopping Centre.
‘They were located at the top floor of the shopping centre – both of them were seen to have approached a sitting area.
‘There was what appeared to be a brief conversation between them both.’
Ms Ajayi referred to the boy ‘lifting a blue sofa which is one of those that are put there for shoppers, and throwing it over the glass balustrade all the way down to the lower floor.
She said the second boy ‘is seen to have positioned himself in a way where he was able to record what was happening his phone.’
In footage posted on social media, a boy, wearing a grey hoodie, can be seen hurling a blue seat from the top floor down to the bottom
After the chair was thrown, it could be seen falling from the top to the bottom floor of Westfield
She told how a worker at the shopping centre estimated the weight of the seat to be ‘approximately 15kg.
‘From the point of being thrown to the floor the distance would be about 50 foot – the damage caused is approximately £500.
‘(The footage) shows how close the sofa was to people were walking in the shopping centre, it is just simply fortunate that no-one was injured.’
The teenager who recorded the video was then identified by police before they were both arrested, the prosecutor said.
In an interview the 15-year-old who threw the sofa told police: ‘It’s not that deep, I did not hit no-one’, Ms Ajayi said.
She referred to a security worker at Westfield who wrote in his victim impact statement that there has been ‘unease from customers’ since the incident.
Turning to the teenager who admitted both offences, Ms Ajayi told the court: ‘A concern is what was indicated during the interview.
‘He was apologetic and he stated that himself and (the co-defendant) regularly indulge in pranks including throwing objects off bridges at trains.’
It landed with a loud thud and just narrowly missed shoppers who walking on the ground floor
The boy will return for sentencing on August 13 after reports are prepared.
He was released on bail subject to a curfew and conditions to live and sleep at his address, not contact his co-defendant and not to enter the E20 postcode area.
The second youth who denied both offences will appear at the same court again on September 24 for a case management hearing ahead of his trial on October 2 in front of a district judge.
Both teenagers, who cannot be named, were accompanied in court by their parents.
