A 15-year-old boy has been found guilty of racially aggravated grievous bodily harm after a man was attacked in Oxford Street by a group of males shouting they did not want to catch his coronavirus.

The teenager, [B] who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared at Highbury Corner Youth Court on 14 December 2020. He had pleaded not guilty to racially aggravated grievous bodily harm but was found guilty on Monday, 4 January.

He will be sentenced on Wednesday, 27 January at Highbury Corner Youth Court.

He had previously pleaded guilty to wounding or inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent on 10 August.

The court heard the victim, a 23-year-old man, was walking along Oxford Street with a friend on 24 February when a group of males bumped into him.

They immediately became abusive, hurling words to the effect of “we don’t want to catch your f***ing coronavirus” at him. They pushed the victim to the floor and the 15-year-old punched his victim on the nose causing it to bleed heavily.

As the man lay on the floor, the group then began to kick him, before they fled.

The victim was taken to hospital where he subsequently required surgery due to facial fractures he received during the incident.

After a media appeal by the Metropolitan Police, the 15-year-old and a 16-year-old were arrested. The 15-year-old was charged GBH without intent and the 16-year-old was released with no further action. The 15-year-old was also further charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm by the Crown Prosecution Service on 10 August.

Detective Sergeant Emma Kirby, the officer in the case, said: “This was a vicious, unprovoked attack and the victim was, understandably, left shaken by the whole incident.

“There’s no room on our streets for this kind of violent behaviour and we are committed to finding the perpetrators of offences like these.

“I would like to thank the media who ran the appeal which led to the arrest.

“We are still yet to trace the third male believed to have been involved in the attack. I would urge anyone with any information about his identity to contact police on 101, quoting CAD 7522/24FEB.”

Alternatively, if you wish to remain anonymous you can contact independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org