Two teenage boys deny 'launching chair 50ft off the top floor of Westfield shopping centre' in internet prank

21 May 2025, 13:41

Two teenage boys have denied launching a chair 50ft off the top floor of a shopping centre as part of an internet prank.

The boys were arrested after a viral video showed an incident at Westfield Stratford shopping centre in Stratford, east London, on March 1.

The incident saw a heavy chair hurled from the top floor balcony, free-falling to the ground and narrowly missing shoppers walking below.

The boys, aged 14 and 15, both pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal damage that recklessly endangered life when they appeared at Stratford Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

The charges state that 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".

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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.