Meet the 11-year-old Leeds schoolboy working tirelessly to keep his neighbourhood clean despite 'awful comments'

Riley Cox, 11, has been cleaning the streets of Little London for about five years. His mum Jane said that his interest in cleaning began the day he could walk, and thinks it’s because he has seen her cleaning all his life.

She said: “I clean as a job, so any chance he can get, he comes to work with me through the holidays and wants to clean pubs with me. Litter picking used to be a punishment for children who behaved naughtily at his previous school – and I had to inform the school that it wouldn’t be a punishment for Riley because he thinks it’s fantastic.”

The schoolboy, now at Alder Tree Primary in Meanwood, asked for a vacuum for Christmas and spent his last birthday picking litter. He is often spotted sweeping the outdoor area of his local shop and picking up cans and rubbish in parks with his litter grabber.

But has been picked on by other children in the neighbourhood, Jane said.

She added: “I tell him ‘ignore them, you're doing a good thing’. One child told him that because he likes picking rubbish up, she's going to knock our bins over because he’s trash. The parents are just as awful. We have had awful comments from them as well.”

But Jane reminds Riley that she is proud of him for litter picking. She hopes that more children and adults will get involved to help create a cleaner environment across the city.