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Disorder followed a walk raising money for the Help for Heroes charity, and in memory of murdered drummer Lee Rigby, in Bristol last month.

Disorder followed a walk raising money for the Help for Heroes charity, and in memory of murdered drummer Lee Rigby, in Bristol last month.

Paul Lloyd, a family man involved in riots that followed the murder of soldier Lee Rigby has been given a suspended jail term.

Paul Lloyd was singled out from a group of men who clashed with police when a supposed peace walk turned violent, Bristol Crown Court heard.

The court was told members of the English Defence League, as well as supporters of United Against Fascists, converged in Kingswood for the social- media-sparked event.

Police arrested Lloyd in a melee that resulted and spotted him mouthing “EDL” during a stand-off in a pub in St George, the court heard.

Lloyd, 39, of Little Stoke, pleaded guilty to threatening unlawful violence The judge handed Lloyd a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work. He was ordered to pay £150 prosecution costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

Bristol Post

Georgina Gontar, 20, of Old Woking, pleaded guilty to a breach of an Asbo, four offences of racially aggravated criminal damage and two of causing criminal damage when she appeared at Guildford Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday (April 17).

The graffiti, including the the name “Bin Laden” and the letters “EDL”, was daubed inside a shop at Lion Retail Park, on a wall in view of the Shah Jahan Mosque in Oriental Road and outside properties in Walton Road on November 12 last year.

For the Asbo breach and racially aggravated criminal damage, Gontar received a custodial sentence of 10 weeks, suspended for 12 months.

For the criminal damage she received a custodial sentence of seven weeks, suspended for 12 months, to run concurrently with the first term.

During the 12-month period, Gontar has a supervisory order in place and she is required to participate in a diversity awareness and prejudice programme.

The magistrates also ordered Gontar to pay compensation of £650 to the James Walker Group, £40 to Hobbycraft and £20 to Unit 18 Boundary Way at the hearing.

She was jointly charged with 19-year-old Laura Woodward of Addlestone.

Get Surrey

Woking People

John Sharpe, aged 45, from Walsall and Kyle Kirkbridge, aged 24, from Rugeley

John Sharpe, aged 45, from Walsall and Kyle Kirkbridge, aged 24, from Rugeley

Kyle Kirkbride, 24, of Rugeley, admitted threatening behaviour, while John Sharpe, of Leamore, Bloxwich, admitted racially aggravated harassment at the EDL protest in Walsall on 29th September last year.

Walsall Magistrates Court heard Sharpe made racist remarks to a police officer. District Judge Michael Morris ordered him to pay a £100 fine, £150 compensation, £85 costs and £15 victim surcharge.

The prosecution said Kirkbride, had made rude hand gestures to Asian men.

Mr Jason Georgiou, mitigating, said he was not racist and was responding to the men. He was given a £280 fine, told to pay £85 costs and £15 victim surcharge.

Express & Star

Laura Woodward, A teenager spray-painted racist graffiti near a mosque and daubed the names Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden on flats during a booze-fuelled spree.

Laura Woodward, 19 of Byron Road, Addlestone, admitted four counts of racially and religious aggravated criminal damage and two of criminal damage.

Woodward, appearing before Guildford magistrates last Thursday, also admitted racially aggravated damage to the front door of an Asian man whom she knew.

Nick Wilson, prosecuting, told the court that Woodward and another girl bought spray paint from Hobbycraft in Woking on November 12 last year when they “commenced these acts of criminal damage”.

The court was told that Woodward sprayed her name and either the number four or a cross in the ladies’ cloakroom at Hobbycraft.

The pair then headed towards the Shah Jahan Mosque, where they painted racist words on a nearby wall in Oriental Road, mis-spelling England as they did so.

It cost almost £1,000 to remove the offensive material.

The public wall of the car park belonging to the same company was also sullied with racist graffiti, which the court heard will cost £344 to put right.

A silver Seat Alhambra car was vandalised with pink spray paint, costing the owner £15 to wash off.

The names Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were daubed on the public wall of Walton Court flats and the letters EDL – an acronym for the English Defence League – were scrawled across the public wall and windows of business units 14 and 18 Boundary Way.

Nick Wilson, prosecuting, said the additional charge was in relation to graffiti on the Asian man’s house door.

“He treated her as his first girlfriend,” Mr Wilson said.

“He went to work and came home to find his house had been treated in this way. They were friends and this is what she did.”

The court heard that it would cost £1,500 for a new door.

Chris McGlinchey, defending, said: “She was, as you may have gathered, substantially drunk.

“The bulk of her offences were when she was using drink.”

Mr McGlinchey added: “She fully accepts that these offences will have caused a great deal of offence and she has developed a degree of empathy as a result.

“She is now in work and it is fair to say she has taken steps on her own part to reduce her drinking. She has asked me to make an apology on her behalf, which you may take with a pinch of salt but the apology is heartfelt.

“She has engaged with people of that community since. She does not see herself as being a racist.”

District Judge Workman said he had considered sending Woodward to a young offenders’ institution but instead decided on a community order.

He warned her: “I must make it clear – if you break the order, that is where you are going to end up.”

Woodward was sentenced to a 12-month community order plus 100 hours of unpaid work.

She must also pay damages of £100 to the mosque and £400 for the damaged door.

District Judge Workman said: “The unpaid work is to at least give something back to the community.

“All graffiti is offensive but when it is racially aggravated, it is particularly offensive.”

Get Surrey

Paul Duffy (right)

Paul Duffy (right)

A MAN who looked after a gun and bullets in exchange for having a debt written-off has been jailed for five years.

Police found a Webley 8mm pistol and two rounds of ammunition when they raided Paul Duffy’s house, after a tip-off in December.

Officers also discovered a prohibited CS gas spray and a small amount of amphetamine during the search at Warkworth Close, Washington.

Prosecutor Neil Pallister told Newcastle Crown Court the gun, which had been manufactured in Italy and adapted in the UK, was tested by experts who confirmed it had “lethal potential.”

The bullets were live and capable of firing.

Duffy told detectives he was looking after the firearm and ammunition in exchange for a drug debt being wiped out.

The 47-year-old said he had been due to give the CS gas spray to a young woman who was concerned for her safety due to the number of rapes in the Washington area, and wanted to carry it for protection.

Duffy admitted possessing a prohibited firearm, live rounds of ammunition, a prohibited weapon and a small amount of amphetamine.

Judge Brian Forster told him: “Anyone who has in their possession a prohibited firearm commits a very serious offence.

“Parliament has decided that judges must impose a minimum sentence of five years imprisonment in such cases and the reason is clear.

“There must be a deterrent sentence to ensure that people do not take such weapons into their possession.

“Weapons such as this are usually carried in offences of robbery.

“While they are carried there is a real risk of death or serious injury to those who may be the victims of such crime.”

Lee Fish, defending, said Duffy is in poor health and uses a walking stick due to back and leg problems.

Mr Fish said: “He was holding the gun for someone else. He has no previous convictions which involve weapons or firearms.”

Sunderland Echo

Hope not Hate

An unnamed 16-year-old from Brownhills, broke wooden pieces of pub garden furniture which thugs then hurled at police during a march by the English Defence League.

The youth, who admitted one count of violent disorder was given an eight-month youth detention training order. He is expected to spend four months in a youth detention centre.

29th Sept 2012

Express & Star

Marsden narrowly escaped a custodial sentence.

Marsden narrowly escaped a custodial sentence.

Karen Elizabeth Marsden, 40, of Castleford joined in offensive chanting as part of the EDL protest in Dewsbury town centre last June, Kirklees magistrates heard.

She then assaulted two police officers when she was arrested and police had to use CS spray to subdue her.

Marsden had denied threatening behaviour and assaulting two police officers but was convicted after a trial.

She was warned to expect jail but magistrates imposed an 18-month community order with a supervision requirement. She was ordered to pay £260 towards costs of £620. Magistrates rejected an application for an anti-social behaviour order.

23rd June 2012

Huddesfield Daily Examiner

Liam Ferrar outside Leicester Magistrates Court, where he was sentenced for leaving a pig's head on the steps of a Muslim community centre

Liam Ferrar outside Leicester Magistrates Court, where he was sentenced for leaving a pig’s head on the steps of a Muslim community centre


Liam Ferrar, 24, admitted leaving the frozen head outside a Muslim community centre in Leicester on Boxing Day last year

An office worker who left a pig’s head on the steps of a Muslim place of worship has been spared a jail sentence.

Liam Ferrar, 24, admitted leaving the frozen head outside a Muslim community centre in Leicester on Boxing Day last year, in a religiously motivated attack.

Ferrar, of Brook Road, Leicester, pleaded guilty last month to causing religiously aggravated harassment by leaving the frozen pig’s head on the steps of the city’s Thurnby Lodge Community Centre.

He was sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for a year, after the court heard he had written a letter of apology to his victims and was disgusted by his actions.

Sentencing Ferrar at Leicester Magistrates’ Court, District Judge John Temperley described the offence as being “to some extent planned, premeditated and targeted”.

The district judge told Ferrar: “You were well aware of the significance of your actions.

“You knew that what you did would cause great distress, indeed that was your intention.”

The court heard that Ferrar was under the influence of alcohol when he placed the pig’s head – which had been stored in a freezer for several months – in an area where it could not be avoided by adults and children arriving for prayers.

Stressing that the offence had taken place against a background of protests at the community centre’s use as a place-of-worship, District Judge Temperley added: “It is easy to imagine the shock, distress and disgust (those who discovered the pig’s head) would have felt.

“The witnesses statements I have read bear testimony to the serious impact of your actions, but the harm you caused goes further.

“Others in the local community and beyond would also have been affected when news of this incident spread, prompting profound alarm, fear and insecurity.

“It should have been obvious that what you did was intimidatory and would only serve to enflame an already tense and volatile situation.”

Suspending the 12-week prison term because of Ferrar’s personal mitigation, including his previous good character, the district judge accepted that the defendant regularly gave his time and energy to local good causes.

District Judge Temperley told Ferrar, who was also ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid community work and pay £85 in costs: “The character references I have read do you great credit.

“I also accept that you have demonstrated genuine remorse and regret for your actions. You co-operated with the police and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.”

Louise Cox, prosecuting, told the court a group calling itself Forgotten Estates had stepped up protests at the community centre last summer.

Defence solicitor Stephen Morris said the protest group, of which Ferrar was a member, aimed to highlight the lack of facilities in the Thurnby Lodge area.

Claiming that his client had chosen to distance himself from Forgotten Estates in September last year, Mr Morris said: “The behaviour by Mr Ferrar on this occasion is out of character – he is not somebody who displays racist tendencies.”

The Independent

A MAN launched a drunken attack on a mosque after watching a news report about the desecration of Commonwealth graves in Libya.

Barry Stanbury, 42, was caught on CCTV cameras at shortly before 2.30am on March 5, wandering around the Exeter Mosque before a window was smashed, Exeter magistrates heard.

The court was told Stanbury was wearing “a distinctive hoodie” with a logo of a large cross on it, and a police officer recognised the defendant.

Clifford Howard, prosecuting, said: “The criminal damage occurred at the Exeter Mosque at 2.23am. We have the precise time because it was caught on CCTV.”

When interviewed Stanbury said he was “so drunk he did not remember doing it”.

Mr Howard said he told police his motive for carrying out the religiously aggravated criminal damage was seeing on the news that Commonwealth graves had been desecrated in Libya.

Stanbury, of Laxton Avenue, Exeter, denied racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage at the mosque but was convicted after a trial.

Magistrates sentenced him to 80 hours unpaid work, £100 compensation and pay £150 costs.

Read more at http://www.devonlive.com/man-launched-drunken-attack-exeter-mosque/story-17210666-detail/story.html#axzz2UdZMRgja#uZtE5ZJTB75XHro6.99

March 5th 2012

This Is Exeter

walsall

Trouble flared at the EDL rally in Leicester Street on September 29 last year, while Unite Against Fascism held a separate event elsewhere in the town centre.

Hundreds of EDL supporters had been in the town and some stewards, EDL supporters and police officers suffered injuries when violence erupted.

Seven men appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday and each pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder.

Mark Baker, aged 43, of Horseshoe Close, Pleck, Walsall; Benjamin Banfield, 34, of Meg Thatchers Green, Saint George, Bristol; Dean Lidster, 44, of Hatfield Road, Stratford; and Craig Forward, aged 37, of Neptune Street, Tipton, stood together in the jury box as they delivered their pleas in front of Judge Michael Challinor.

Christopher Jelley, 27, of Broadway Close, Shrewsbury; Myles Smith, 39, of Parkway Towers, Leeds, and Leslie Silk, 36, of Gatcombe Road, Bristol, also appeared in a separate hearing.

Apart from entering their guilty pleas, the defendants only spoke to confirm their names, addresses and dates of birth during their appearances.

Their cases were adjourned for pre-sentence reports to be prepared.

Mr Stephen Cadwaladr, representing Baker, said his client had learning difficulties and was addicted to alcohol.

He said medical reports would also be prepared.

The defendants are each due to appear in front of a judge at Wolverhampton Crown Court in the coming months to be sentenced. They were all released on conditional bail.

The protest in the town centre caused shops and market stalls to close, and buses and taxis were suspended.

Police scoured CCTV footage and arrested a number of suspects thought to have been involved in the disorder.

Missiles including bricks and wooden panels were hurled at police, despite calls from the group’s leaders for calm.

Steel police cordons were set up in Bridge Street and Darwall Street, bringing parts of the town centre to a standstill.

The main bus station St Paul’s was also closed and buses were diverted, leaving some shoppers and visitors to the town stranded.

Chief Inspector Mike O’Hara said the trouble had been confined mostly to Leicester Street and the rest of the day had passed peacefully.

Express & Star