‘He’s an adult and should be in prison – not playing the Xbox in a young offenders facility’: Outrage grows after TikTok menace and father-of-one Mizzy, 19, avoids jail over social media pranks breach

Outrage has greeted the news that 19-year-old TikTok menace Mizzy – a father of one- will be locked up for 18 weeks in a young offenders institution with children rather than an adult prison. 

The ‘prankster’,  real name Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, has been jailed for violating court orders which ordered him ‘not to upload directly or indirectly, any original video content on social media, without prior documented consent of the people in that content’.

He was found to have ‘deliberately and intentionally’ flouted the order hours after it had been imposed leading to his internment in the institution due to the age at which he committed the offence. 

The decision to lock the father-of-one up in a juvenile facility sparked discussion online with some alleging the penal system wasn’t fit for purpose and that the unremorseful offender would be given an easy ride. 

One X user raged: ‘Mizzy has gone to a young offenders institution. Hardly jail is it?’

Bacari-Bronze O’Garro – also known as Mizzy – in his Metropolitan Police-issued mugshot

There has been widespread outrage to Mizzy’s placement in a young offenders institute 

Another agreed: ‘He’s not a child in the eyes of the law, he’s an adult and should be in prison, not playing xbox in a young offenders institution.’ 

Another raged: ‘Send this clown away. If he’s too old for a young offenders institute, send him to an adult prison where he cannot do any harm.’

But speaking to MailOnline, Ernest Aduwa, Partner at Stokoe Partnership Solicitors explained that Mizzy’s containment in the youth system was how the penal system was intended to operate. 

He said: ‘When deciding which prison a person is sent too, it’s not so much determined by any representations made by the defence solicitor at a time of sentence. 

‘Any mitigation put forward in relation to the offense committed – so any remorse, or any mitigating circumstances personally relating to that offence, and to that offender in particular. 

‘It won’t affect what prison that offender is sent to. 

‘Young offenders institutions aren’t any less of a prison than an adult prison – they’re just separated from adults over the age of 21.’ 

It is unknown which young offenders institution O’ Garro will spend the next 18-weeks in following his dressing down in court yesterday. 

During sentencing, judge Matthew Bone told him that his pranks had been motivated by a desire to be famous, but caused ‘significant harm and distress’ to others. The judge concluded: ‘Put bluntly, your pranks are not funny.’ 

The tearaway breached the order hours after it was handed to him by sharing a video on X, formerly Twitter, which featured passersby without their permission at Westfield Stratford – a location he had been banned from under the court order.

Mizzy, whose real name is Bacari-Bronze O’Garro, appeared at Stratford Magistrates’ Court today where he was sent to a young offenders’ institution for 18 weeks

Mizzy pictured, was told by Judge Matthew Bone that his pranks were ‘not funny’

Mizzy had previously mocked ‘UK law is a joke’, pictured today outside Stratford Magistrates Court

This TikTok showed Mizzy riding into a Job Centre and was viewed many times by fans online

O’Garro has also previously shared a clip of himself cycling inside a Sainsbury’s  supermarket after he was given the criminal behaviour order

In this video at Westfield, he said he had just come out of court, adding: ‘I’m banned from this place [Stratford Westfield], I can’t go in here. The UK law is a joke.’

Wearing a black jacket and black trousers, O’Garro did not react as his sentence was read out.

After his trial last month, the father-of-one was banned from using social media after he was found to have ‘deliberately flouted’ a court order prohibiting him from sharing videos of people without their consent ‘within hours’ of it being passed.

He was found not guilty on two further counts of the same charge having denied all four charges.

As he sentenced him, Judge Bone said O’Garro’s actions had been motivated by a desire to ‘receive money and designer clothes from sponsors’.

He continued: ‘Your further offending was motivated by your desire to be famous. Your actions caused innocent members of the public significant harm and distress.

‘You claimed on national television the law was weak. Put bluntly, your pranks are not funny.’

He added: ‘I concede that there may be some prospect of rehabilitation in the community, and I accept the mitigation.

‘But it must be clearly understood by all that for such an immediate breach of the criminal behaviour order, detention is what is appropriate.

‘The defendant caused ordinary members of the public harassment, alarm, and distress – and then profited from that. I want to ensure this does not happen again.’

District Judge Bone also strengthened O’Garro’s already existing criminal behaviour order, banning him from posting videos on social media for the next two years.

He said: ‘Following application by the prosecutor, I am satisfied that the criminal behaviour order you were subjected to should be strengthened.

‘Your allure to fame is clear, meaning you need further help so as to not reoffend.

‘Therefore, for two years starting from today, you must not publish or share or attempt to publish or share any video footage; you must not act with anyone else to publish or share or attempt to publish or share any video footage; and you must not contribute to any social media account other than your own.

‘You must not trespass on any private property, or enter the E20 postcode area of London, unless travelling on public transport for pre-arranged child arrangements.’

On May 26, another ‘riding bikes in places’ video was posted to his Twitter account that shows him cycling through the Jobcentre

Mizzy made a name for himself online after posting videos of a series of pranks, including riding on top of this bus

In a new video today, Mizzy boasted about his case being ‘light work’ while on his way to court

The teenager’s trial heard how he began sharing videos of people without their consent on the same day the criminal behaviour order was passed on May 24 this year.

Other videos shared on O’Garro’s Snapchat account, which were also in breach, showed him grabbing hold of a schoolboy by his uniform and another showed him fighting a man with dwarfism, which O’Garro claimed were hoax videos made with their prior agreement.

O’Garro’s claim that one of his friends, who had access to his login details, posted the Twitter videos without his consent, was dismissed by Judge Matthew Bone as ‘inconceivable’.

In mitigation remarks, Barrister Paul Lennon, defending O’Garro, urged the court to consider his young age and his personal circumstances. He said: ‘Mr O’Garro is 19 years old, and he was 18 at the time of the offending.

‘He is currently studying at Haringey Sixth Form College. At the end of the course, which I am told he is performing extremely well on, he will have the opportunity to move on to higher education.

‘He is predicted to achieve a distinction. He is very academic, very hands-on, and his timekeeping is good.

‘He has recently gained employment as a waiter at a restaurant in Islington.

‘In terms of his family relationships, his relationship with his mother is both good and bad. He has not had any contact with his father since he was two years old.

‘He has two sisters, who he has good relationships with. One sister is in court today.

‘He has a one-year-old son, who he has access to once a week, every week.

‘His relationship with the mother of his child is difficult, but he still attempts to have as much time with his child as he can.

‘The clear factor in mitigation here is his age, his immaturity. But he is in college, he is employed, he is actively trying to better himself.’

In another old video, O’Garro claimed that the police will never get him as he continued to cause chaos

O’Garro also sparked anger after appearing to walk into a family’s home without the owners’ permission

Mr Lennon requested that O’Garro be given a community sentence, rather than a custodial or suspended sentence. He said: ‘Judge, this is the longest pre-sentence report I have ever read. He has been fully assessed.

‘I understand we are in suspended sentence territory. But I believe a community sentence is more appropriate in light of his age and lack of maturity.’

Mr Lennon also argued for O’Garro’s criminal behaviour order not to be strengthened, claiming that ‘social media is a main part of many young people’s lives’.

But District Judge Bone replied: ‘The order does not ban him from social media. It does not prevent him from sharing photographs of himself, or information about who he is with.

‘It prevents him from sharing videos, which is what caused all the problems in this case, because it is here where he shared his so-called pranks.’

District Judge Bone also refused to hand O’Garro only a community sentence, although he did say he had taken mitigation into account – in particular his age, the fact that ‘he did not have the best start in life’, and the ‘helpful character statement provided by Haringey College for the pre-sentencing report.’

Speaking outside court, Yasmin Lalani – Detective Chief Inspector at the Central East Command for the Met Police, said: ‘I think it is appropriate sentence when you have disregard for the law.

‘I hope that he gets some help in the Youth Offenders Institution. Hopefully he will get some help that will prevent him from reoffending.

‘I think this is a loud and clear message that nobody is above the law and that you have got to be held accountable.

‘I think the right result has come through, more for the public as well, because I think the community were upset with the lack of respect for the law of the country and the distress and harassment he was causing, it was a blatant disregard for the harassment and distress of the community.’

The sentencing comes after O’Garro had previously pleaded not guilty to four counts of breaking his criminal behaviour order, which led to District Judge Matthew Bone criticising him for ‘lacking all credibility’.

District Judge Bone found him guilty ‘on two occasions of an intentional and a deliberate challenge to this order’ – for the video filmed at Westfield, and for footage in which he ‘roughed up’ a schoolboy and a man with dwarfism and posted the video to Snapchat on July 7, 2023.

‘The suggestion he had proper consent of these people was nonsense. The offending is very significant here,’ said Judge Bone.

O’Garro was found not guilty of breaching the order for two videos – one, posted to X, of him cycling around a Sainsburys, and another which showed him doing the same through a Jobcentre.

District Judge Bone also highlighted the fact that on May 24, the same day the criminal behaviour order was imposed, O’Garro had appeared on Piers Morgan’s TalkTV show Uncensored and slated the UK’s criminal justice system.

Later that evening, in the video posted from Westfield Stratford, O’Garro said to the camera: ‘I’m banned from this place, I can’t go in here. The UK law is a joke.’

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