Teenager sentenced over woman pelted with flour and eggs

A teenage boy who took a photo of a vulnerable woman who was pelted with flour and eggs as she sat on a park bench has been sentenced to a community order.

The image of the 49-year-old was seen around the world after it was uploaded to social media by Cohan Semple, who turned 18 in October, an earlier hearing at Ipswich Magistrates' Court was told.

It showed her cowering on the bench and covered in flour as four boysposed behind her in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Semple admitted a public order offence at an earlier hearing and was sentenced at the same court on Tuesday.<Declan Gallagher, mitigating, said Semple was 17 at the time of the offence on July 27 this year, had faced "practically worldwide opprobrium" as the only defendant to be publicly named and was "far from a ringleader".

"There were three people present who took it upon themselves to go to thenearby Spar shop to buy flour and eggs," he said.

"All of those have been dealt with by referral orders."

Four boys who cannot be identified due to their age admitted a public orderoffence and were sentenced last month.

Presiding magistrate Michael Cadman, sentencing Semple on Tuesday, told the defendant: "We were made aware that you were not the ringleader or the prime mover in this offence."

He said he also took into account that Semple lost his job as a warehouse man as a result and had no previous convictions.

Semple, of Willcox Avenue, Bury St Edmunds, was sentenced to a year-long community order.

He was also ordered to complete 60 hours of unpaid work, pay £100 compensation his victim and pay £70 in costs.

Lucy Miller, prosecuting, said the victim's account describes how she was spat at, and some of the boys went to a shop and returned with eggs and flour which they threw over her.

"She did overhear someone saying they were filming it," Ms Miller said.

She said that in police interview Semple admitted taking the photograph which he put on his own Snapchat, before a friend took a screenshot and posted it on Facebook. It was then shared more widely.

A sixth boy, aged 17, denies a public order offence and was bailed to appear at Ipswich Youth Court on February 13 2019 for trial.