MOB RULE: The Police carrier van targeted by students at the tuition fee demo

A privately-educated teenager from Perryn Road, Acton, who was part of a mob that trashed a police riot van against tuition fees has been spared a prison sentence. According to the Daily Mail Oscar Laurie von Massenbach, 18, who attends £15,000-a-year Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, west London, smashed the windscreen of the van after jumping on its roof causing £4,000 of damage. When he was arrested he told police that he 'hoped his parents didn't see him on Sky News', the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court was told.

His solicitor asked for the case to be heard after he had taken his A-levels, but the request was rejected by a district judge. Before the demonstrations on November 24 last year - two days after his 18th birthday - he had been predicted three A grades but his lawyer claimed his arrest had had a 'significant' impact on his life and he is now expecting lower grades. However, despite the claims he is still planning on going to university to study politics and philosophy if he is accepted by a university.

Edmund Hall, prosecuting, said Massenbach was seen stamping on the riot van's roof 'for a considerable amount of time' during the protest. 'It appears he was one of two people who first got up; a number of other protesters followed his example,' he said. District Judge Daphne Wickham said the student had got 'completely carried away.' She added: 'There you are, broadcast to the world, jumping up and down and smashing up a police carrier. 'If you can't go to these events without committing offences then please don't go.'

He admitted to criminal damage and was ordered to pay £1,000 to the Metropolitan Police with £85 in court costs. He was also handed a 12 month conditional discharge