Court restrictions protecting a teenage knifeman have been lifted after a journalist discovered his boasts about being jailed on social media.

Charlie Moloney, pictured, succeeded in challenging an order protecting Kyrese Cashley after being made aware the 17-year-old had shared public posts on Facebook revealing both his prison number and where he was being held.

Cashley was detained for four years in a young offenders institute following an incident where he slashed at a man’s throat with a knife in a pub.

Charlie, who works for Reading-based agency Hyde News & Pictures, challenged an order protecting Cashley made under Section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, after presenting Reading Crown Court with proof of the inmates boasts.

The posts, in which the teen described himself as “HMP’s finest” and told his friends “A6333EL this is my prison number I am Feltham if anyone wants to contact shout me”, were included in the application to lift the reporting restrictions.

The application stated: “We do not seek to moralise about the way in which this defendant is apparently celebrating going to prison, but include these pictures to argue that the benefit of maintaining the reporting restriction has already been eroded due to the actions of this defendant.

“On the other hand, the restriction on the ability of the press to report this case has become very substantial.”

Judge Heather Norton backed the application, telling the court: “The imposition of a discretionary reporting restriction is a departure from the ordinary principles of open justice. The decision of whether to impose reporting restrictions requires a balancing exercise.

“These were serious offences, committed by a young person, now no stranger to the criminal justice system and they are yet another example of the serious consequences of taking a knife out to the public streets.”

Addressing Cashley, Judge Norton said: “It is clear that you have been posting on social media and that you have put yourself in the public domain, both your identity and the fact that you are in custody in Feltham.

“Taking all those matters into account, the balance has now shifted in favour of reporting and I therefore make an order that the reporting restriction previously imposed is lifted.”

As an anonymous youth, Cashley had featured in the front page splash of the Reading Chronicle and in other national newspapers and broadcasters, in relation to an attack he carried out together with a 12-year-old boy on cyclist Richard Smart in May 2018.

Mr Smart, 56, had suffered a heart attack and brain damage following the attack, which was charged as section 20 causing grievous bodily harm without intent.

Cashley was sentenced to a youth rehabilitation order for attacking Mr Smart, but breached his conditions and was jailed by Judge Edward Burgess QC in January this year, at which time Jan application to lift the reporting restrictions protecting the defendant was rejected.

Just days after being released in March this year, Cashley carried out the attack in the Pheasant pub in Reading, which he was convicted of following a trial and for which Judge Norton jailed him.

Charlie told HTFP: “It was extremely challenging to cover Cashley’s string of appearances in court while he retained his anonymity, as we had to be careful that our separate reports did not allow readers to piece together who he was through ‘jigsaw identification’.

“After our agency were made aware that the defendant was actively posting on social media and identifying himself as a prisoner, of his own free will, we thought it was only right that the judge should be able to consider that when deciding what the real impact of lifting these restrictions would be.

“I am very thankful to all the judges at Reading Crown Court who gave me ample opportunity to put the press’s case forward at every stage in this process.”