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Jailed

Pair locked up over EDL demo near Eureka

By
July 19, 2013
ASBO, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed

A 21-year-old Rochdale man and a 16-year-old youth from Stockport have been locked up by a judge for their part in disturbances involving English Defence League supporters at the Eureka Museum in Halifax.

Michael Kelly, of Sykes Court, Rochdale, and the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had travelled to West Yorkshire in July last year for an EDL demonstration in the car park of the popular family attraction.

Bradford Crown Court heard that although it was a Saturday the museum itself was closed to the public and only some staff were on duty that afternoon.

Prosecutor David McGonigal told the court how the Unite Against Facism group were due to hold a counter demonstration about a mile away, but police became concerned about possible clashes when about 50 EDL supporters headed towards the King Cross Road area.

A bus was provided to take the EDL followers to the Eureka car park and Mr McGonigal said it was at about 1.30pm when between 200 and 300 EDL demonstrators broke through the fence at the museum and confronted a small number of police officers.

Mr McGonigal said rocks and bottles were thrown towards officers who were in their normal uniforms and the crowd was shouting and gesticulating aggressively.

Staff inside the museum were frightened by the incident and some of the crowd made their way around to the side of the museum where industrial-size bins were overturned and damage caused to fencing.

Mr McGonigal said the demonstrators were eventually contained by officers in riot gear, police dogs and mounted police.

Kelly, who had earlier been filmed in Sowerby Bridge wearing a skull mask, was one of those who went through the broken fence into the museum grounds and Mr McGonigal alleged that at one stage he could be seen charging towards the police officers.

Kelly, who has a previous conviction for threatening behaviour at a football match, admitted violent disorder on the basis that he had no thrown anything at the police himself.

Kelly, who was arrested in December, said he was not a member of the EDL but had wanted to take part in a peaceful manner.

He said he was part of the crowd and blamed the police for “hemming” them in at the car park.

He said he wasn’t charging at the police, but simply trying to get out of the museum grounds.

Kelly was jailed for nine months by Judge Peter Benson who also imposed a two-year anti-social behaviour order on the defendant.

The 16-year-old, who also admitted violent disorder, was shown on CCTV footage kicking at the fence before it is broken down.

At the time the youngster was wearing a scarf over his face.

The teenager was sentenced to a six-month detention and training order and he was also made the subject of a two-year ASBO

Halifax Courier

Mansfield man gets eight weeks in jail for role in EDL protests.

By
July 19, 2013
criminal damage, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed

A MANSFIELD man has been jailed for eight weeks for causing criminal damage during English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism protests in the Leicester.

John Kavanagh, 22, of Fritchley Court, pleaded guilty at Leicester Magistrates’ Court to two charges of criminal damage.

The incidents happened on October 9 last year, when damage was caused to windows at Fabrika Bar at the Arts Centre in Humberstone Gate East.

Damage was also caused to police barriers placed on Humberstone Gate

This is Nottingham

The Facebook chat that cost Shaun Rossington his life.

By
July 19, 2013
Jailed, murder

LIKE millions of other young people, Shaun Rossington used the internet to while away the hours chatting to friends.

As he logged onto his Facebook profile on the evening of June 2 last year, it is likely he expected to do little more than catch up on his social life.

He could never have predicted that a conversation he was about to have would ultimately lead to his death.

Shaun, 21, pictured below, entered into an online chat with a 13-year-old girl, who was using a computer at Nicolas Shelbourne’s flat

It was later claimed in court that during the chat, she had offered him a sexual favour in return for money and cigarettes.

The conversation got the attention of Shelbourne, 27, as well as his friends Daryll Jones, 17, Jordan O’Rourke, 17, Mark Jackson, 21 and another 17-year-old girl, who cannot be named.

The young girl arranged to meet Shaun and the others decided to accompany her.

In the early hours of June 3, Shaun met the teenager on grassland off Searby Road, Lincoln.

Moments later, he came face to face with the other five people.

Terrified Shaun gave them cigarettes, but told them he had no money. What followed was a vicious attack that began with a blow to the head with a glass bottle and took him to the ground.

He was then savagely beaten as he lay on the grass, pleading for mercy.

After the attack, Shaun was left with more than 41 separate injuries. During the ten-week trial, Jones was described as having “danced” on Shaun’s head.

It was also claimed he had taken a knife to Shaun’s back.

At one stage, Shelbourne and Jackson picked up Shaun off the ground. He begged them to stop hurting him and asked them to take him home.

But Shelbourne refused, saying it would then be obvious he had been attacked.

As they were holding him up, Jones was said to have knocked him to the ground again before continuing the attack.

The group then walked away, smoking his cigarettes and leaving him for dead.

Later on, passer-by Leslie Sampher came across Shaun’s prone body and shook him, asking if he was OK. He noticed Shaun did not have any shoes on and assumed he may have been drinking.

He could not have known then that Shaun’s trainers had been thrown into the road with the intention of making it look like a hit-and-run road accident.

He tried to rouse the 21-year-old a second time, but could not.

Meanwhile, the group returned to Shelbourne’s flat, where they began to concoct their cover story.

Jones bleached his trainers and his bloodied clothes were bagged up and dumped.

O’Rouke, Jackson, the 17-year-old girl and the 13-year-old returned to the field at about 4am, where they found Shaun dead.

The 17-year-old girl, who was later convicted of manslaughter, called 999.

She told police they had found the body and were interviewed as witnesses.

But after leaving the police station, Jones went into the City Square area of Lincoln, where he described what he had done to several people.

Over the next 48 hours, he told more people he had been involved in killing someone and even sent a text message saying “I could be getting done for murder”.

Meanwhile, after meeting the group and taking witness statements, police found that the 17-year-old girl’s phone number was in Shaun’s phone and put her at the scene.

And those who had been on the end of Jones’s casual admissions came forward to give statements.

Seven people were arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday, June 5, and taken to separate police stations to be interviewed.

Some lied about what had happened and at first they explained their presence at the Ermine shops, as seen on CCTV, as a trip to get cash for a pizza. This was because they knew they would be on CCTV, as they knew the area well.

Forensic investigators then found that trainers seized from members of the group matched footprints that had caused marks on Shaun’s forehead.

While on remand in a young offenders’ centre, Jones told his mum in a phone call: “I’m going to plea bargain it to manslaughter and say I was drunk, we all ended up fighting, we all hit him.”

It was later determined that Shaun had died from a lack of oxygen, having been so badly beaten he was unable to raise his head up to breathe.

This is Lincolnshire

Man photographed with stick moments before attack on Kingston Mosque is spared jail

By
July 18, 2013
criminal damage, Fined, Jailed, Public order offence, Racial Conviction, religiously-aggravated offence, Suspended sentence
Henry Hunter

Henry Hunter

A teenager found guilty of violent disorder following an attack on Kingston Mosque has been spared jail.

Henry Hunter, 19, was convicted last month after a gang of young men laid siege to a mosque in East Road, having previously attended a protest march against Muslim extremism, in November 2010.

But he was acquitted of racially aggravated criminal damage.

At Kingston Crown Court this morning, Hunter, from Ashford in Middlesex, was sentenced to six months at a young offenders’ institute, suspended for 12 months.

He was fined £1,000, given 250 hours of unpaid work, and handed a four month curfew order banning him from leaving his home on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights.

Hunter was also given an exclusion order banning him from Kingston town centre for a year.

Before the sentence was passed, Hunter’s solicitor Michael Green told Recorder Roderick Fletcher that Hunter was a young man of previous good character who had not been in trouble before or after the mosque attack.

Mr Green said Hunter’s attitude had changed considerably in the two years since the attack, and he was now also holding down a job as a fork lift truck driver.

He contrasted Hunter’s police record with those of Martin Pottle and Alfie Wallace, who, along with David Morris, were all jailed for the attack in April.

Mr Green said Pottle had four previous public order offences and had been sentenced to six months in prison for affray in 2010.

Wallace had convictions for violence, robbery, criminal damage, assaulting a police officer and racially aggravated offences.

Mr Green also pointed to the fact Hunter handed himself into the police voluntarily, after his picture appeared on the front page of the Surrey Comet in the wake of the convictions of Pottle, Wallace and Morris.

Mr Green said: “This is a young man who handed himself into a police station after his picture was published in the Surrey Comet on the same day.

“His attitudes have changed considerably, his personal circumstances have changed considerably.

“He hopes to be given the opportunity to carry on working. Things have changed in terms of his employment, and in terms of his attitude.

“There are no new offences. The author of the pre-sentence report has spoken to the police and there is no suggestion he has been involved in any previous activity.”

Sentencing Hunter, Recorder Fletcher said: “You surrendered voluntarily to the police, you are currently in employment and you have a stable home environment.

“You’ve made important changes to your lifestyle and attitude in the past two years.”

“I’ve felt able to take a different course in your case to the course taken regarding Mr Pottle and Mr Wallace.

“Mr Pottle was substantially older than you, and Mr Wallace was marginally older than you.

“Both were convicted of two offences – violent disorder and religiously aggravated damage to property and both had relevant previous convictions.

“In these circumstances I’ve taken what could be considered as an unusual course in relation to your sentence.”

Surrey Comet

Blackburn family hits out at ‘atrocious’ sentence given to attacker

By
July 18, 2013
actual bodily harm, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed
Bernard Holmes, EDL thug with multiple convictions for violence.

Bernard Holmes, EDL thug with multiple convictions for violence.

A FAMILY has hit out at the sentence given to a man who caused ‘catastrophic’ injuries when he threw two punches outside a Blackburn nightspot.

Bernard Holmes, 24, of Coleridge Street, Blackburn, is starting a two-year, four month sentence after admitting grievous bodily harm (GBH) on Sean Baxendale.

But after the case Mr Baxendale’s sister slammed the sentence, saying Holmes, who had previous convictions for common assault and actual bodily, harm, was a ‘dangerous man’ who should have got life.

Holmes threw two punches at Mr Baxendale, 44, outside Bar Ibiza, Mincing Lane, in what the court heard was an unprovoked attack on May 17.

The second strike connected and knocked him out.

Mr Baxendale suffered an extensive skull fracture and had to have bones removed in order to relieve pressure on his brain.

After months in hospital, he was left with a continuing brain injury, often getting confused over simple things.

Once a fit and active man, he had undergone a personality change following the attack, Preston Crown Court was told.

Mr Baxendale’s sister Maggie Garth said the whole family was devastated by the attack.

She said: “His personality has changed. Sean was lively and outgoing. Now he has not got the same patience. He had to learn and talk again.

“He will be living with it for the rest of his life.”

The attack on Mr Baxendale, and the killings of Adam Rogers and Christopher Folkes in Blackburn, prompted his nephew Kirk Bullen to launch the Make Lancashire Safer Campaign.

Maggie said the judge had undermined this battle: “I think the sentence handed out is atrocious and the courts have let us down.

“There are campaigns against violence. How can you can make a town safer if the courts aren’t helping us?

“The sentence has just knocked us all for six. To me, with his previous convictions, you should get life.”

After the case, Detective Constable Mark Cruise said: “This type of incident shows that even one punch can have horrific consequences.”

Holmes had stood trial on a more serious charge of GBH with intent, but a jury had found him not guilty .

The court was told that initially, another man (not the defendant) was seen arguing with Mr Baxendale outside the premises.

Stephen McNally, prosecuting, said that male punched Mr Baxendale to the face.

Holmes then crossed the road and struck out at Mr Baxendale.

A second blow knocked him to the ground, where he lay unconscious, having struck his head with some force as he fell.

Holmes had previous convictions including five acts of common assault and one of actual bodily harm.

Daniel King, defending, said: “The defendant says the extent of Mr Baxendale’s injuries have shocked him, in fact, appalled him.

“He had no intention to cause any serious injury.”

Lancashire Telegraph

Man sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment for his part in disturbance during EDL/UAF protests

By
July 18, 2013
criminal damage, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed, Public order offence

A man has been sentenced to 12 weeks imprisonment for his part in the disturbance which occurred during the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism protests in the city centre.

Ryan Herbert (06/04/87) of Bland Road, New Parks, pleaded guilty at Leicester Magistrates Court last month to criminal damage to property and to a Section 4 public order offence. He was sentenced last week.

The incident happened on October 9, 2010, in Humberstone Gate East when damage was caused to windows at Fabrika Bar at the Arts Centre.

In Leicester

Neo-Nazis jailed over anti-Jewish internet posts

By
July 18, 2013
EDL, English Defence League, hate crime, Jailed, Racial Conviction
Heaton and Hannington wanted to rid Britain of ethnic minoritie

Heaton and Hannington wanted to rid Britain of ethnic minoritie

Two white supremacists who posted racist internet messages calling for Jews to be destroyed have been jailed.

Michael Heaton, 42, of Leigh, Greater Manchester, and Trevor Hannington, 58, from Hirwaun, described Jews as “scum” and encouraged people to kill them.

The self-proclaimed neo-Nazis were both cleared of soliciting murder. Heaton was convicted of stirring up racial hatred – a charge Hannington admitted.

Heaton was jailed for 30 months and Hannington for two years.

‘Race war’

Justice Irwin told Heaton his words were of the most “insulting and extreme nature” marked by “violent racism” and said only a significant jail term was acceptable.

The 42-year-old food packer admitted in a police interview that he was a founder member of the Aryan Strike Force (ASF), whose goal was “the eradication of ethnic minorities from Britain”, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

“Your sustained racist rants were intended to bolster that group.

“You wanted to start a race war.

“You are clearly filled with racial hatred and also with violent and angry beliefs.”

The court was told that Heaton had posted 3,000 messages on his ASF website between January and June 2008.

He wrote: “I would encourage any religion or race that wants to destroy the Jews, I hate them with a passion.”

In another posting he said Jews were “leeches” and “scum” and that black people were “less intelligent than other species”.

Hannington, from Hirwaun, Cynon valley in south Wales, was described as a loner by the judge, who told him: “You are a long-standing racist who has never hidden your views, which are violent and vicious in the extreme.

“You are a lonely man with little in your life.”

The 58-year-old builder admitted he was an administrator for the ASF website and one of his posts read: “Kill the Jew, Kill the Jew, burn down a synagogue today! Burn the scum.”

When police raided the homes of both men they found a whole collection of knives and firearms.

Heaton’s bedroom was adorned in flags with symbols of far-right movements, and a samurai sword hung above his bed.

Elsewhere around the house officers found nunchucks, batons, knives and knuckle dusters hanging on the walls, and a BB machine gun was also recovered.

Flags bearing swastikas were strewn around Hannington’s house and police found a personal armoury including an air rifle and daggers.

‘Anarchist’s Cookbook’

David Fish, mitigating for Heaton, said the defendant had been banned from accessing the internet while on bail and was no longer involved in the BFF.

He said: “Heaton has, in effect, shed the habit and lost interest in putting up these posts.”

Hannington’s defence claimed he was a “fantasist” and the jury’s verdict accepted the posts were made without a great deal of thought.

However, Hannington also admitted owning the Anarchist’s Cookbook, Kitchen Complete and The Terrorist Encyclopaedia, all of which are considered useful tools to someone preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Mr Justice Irwin ordered the weapons to be destroyed, along with the defendants’ home computers.

Stuart Laidlaw, the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division lawyer, said: “As members of the ASF, Hannington and Heaton were closely associated with Ian Davison who was recently convicted of terrorism offences and of producing the poison ricin.

“They enjoyed similar links with his son, Nicky Davison, who was also recently convicted of terrorism offences.

“We considered this to be a very serious case and on the evidence presented to us by police, the public interest required a prosecution.”

The judge told him: “You saw yourself as the leader of a potentially significant and active National Socialist group.

BBC News

Leeds meat cleaver crime spree man jailed

By
July 18, 2013
assault, Drugs, EDL, English Defence League, Jailed, possessing an offensive weapon, sex abuse
Grant

Grant

A violent thug used a meat cleaver to threaten victims during a six-week campaign of robbery and burglary to fund a £600-a-week drink and drug habit.

Daniel Grant, 22, was jailed indefinitely yesterday after a court heard he had a hatred of people not like him and he enjoyed carrying weapons because it made him feel “on top of the world”.

Grant committed eight robberies in Leeds between December and January this year, taking £3,000 worth of valuables from victims. Some were assaulted or threatened with a meat cleaver and other weapons.

Leeds Crown Court heard Grant holds openly racist views and is an active member of the English Defence League, a far-right protest group. After his arrest he claimed he carried weapons because other people were “needled-up” and may attack him because of his political views.

Judge Penelope Belcher jailed Grant indefinitely, saying he posed a significant risk of committing serious offences in the future. He must serve a minimum of four years in prison before he can apply to the parole board for release.

Grant, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to robbery, attempted robbery, burglary and possession of a bladed weapon.

He asked for 16 other offences to be taking into consideration, including seven robberies and five burglaries. Some of the offences were committed with the help of an accomplice.

Two of the offences included him targeting victim as they walked to work along a canal tow path near to Gotts Road, Armley. One man, who was told hand over his wallet, feared he would be attacked and left to bleed to death.

After his arrest Grant, who has previous convictions for assault and sex offences, told probation officers and a psychiatrist that he had a fascination with weapons and the power it gave him. He also said he had dreams about “torching” people and inflicting other injuries on them.

Jobless Grant said he committed the offences to fund his addiction to alcohol and cannabis. He was also a regular user of amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and anabolic steroids, which fuelled his aggression.

He said he was full of hatred for people who were not like him, including members of his own family. A report stated that he had an “abnormal personality” and had no empathy for his victims.

Judge Belcher said Grant was a risk to the public because he showed no desire to change.

She told: “You have made it clear that the lifestyle that you were leading, involving drugs and significant amounts of alcohol, is a lifestyle you have every intention of leading on your release from custody.”

After the hearing, Det Con Dave McKean, of City and Holbeck CID, said: “Grant put his victims through terrifying ordeals, often at knifepoint, purely to get money. I hope the sentence he has received will serve as some source of comfort to those whose lives have been affected by his actions.”

Yorkshire Evening Post

West Yorkshire nail bomb maker jailed for 11 years

By
July 18, 2013
explosives, Jailed
Terence Gavan pleaded guilty to 22 charges

Terence Gavan pleaded guilty to 22 charges


A man who admitted making nail bombs at his West Yorkshire home has been jailed for 11 years.

Terence Gavan, 38, who the Old Bailey heard showed a strong hostility towards immigrants, was arrested by police in a raid at his home in May 2009.

The bus driver’s arsenal of weapons and explosives included home-made shotguns, pen guns and pistols.

Gavan, from Batley, also pleaded guilty to six counts of having or collecting documents useful in terrorism.

Sentencing Gavan, Mr Justice Calvert-Smith said his case was “unique” because of his long and persistent manufacture of guns and explosives.

Gavan, who the court heard was a former member of the BNP, pleaded guilty to 22 charges at Woolwich Crown Court in November.

Police discovered 12 firearms and 54 improvised explosive devices, which included nail bombs and a booby-trapped cigarette packet, at the home Gavan shared with his mother.

He told detectives he had “a fascination with things that go bang”, the Old Bailey heard.

After the case, head of the North East Counter Terrorism Unit Det Ch Supt David Buxton said Gavan posed a significant risk to public safety.

“Gavan was an extremely dangerous and unpredictable individual,” he said.

“The sheer volume of home-made firearms and grenades found in his bedroom exposed his obsession with weapons and explosives.

“However, he was not simply a harmless enthusiast.

“Gavan used his extensive knowledge to manufacture and accumulate devices capable of causing significant injury or harm.”

A BNP spokesman would not comment on whether Gavan had been a member of the party.

But he told BBC News that Gavan’s offences were “serious” and the sentence given to him was “correct”.

BBC News

Speedboat people smugglers jailed

By
July 18, 2013
Jailed, people smuggling

Two ex-soldiers who smuggled Chinese illegal immigrants across the Channel in inflatable boats have been jailed.

Allan Guy Gallop, 49, and Marcus Wakelin, 42, both of East Sussex, were filmed by police dropping the immigrants at Newhaven in May 2004.

Gallop, from Peacehaven, was jailed for four years, and builder Wakelin, of Eastbourne, got a three year sentence.

The judge at Maidstone Crown Court told them they had been involved in “an insidious trade in human trafficking”.

The court heard each of the immigrants they transported had paid up to £7,000 to “Snake Head” gangsters before being collected in Calais and brought across the Channel through busy shipping lanes.

Gallop, a divorced father-of-two, was approached to act as a “ferryman” for illegal immigrants by an Albanian man in February 2004, and was told where to collect the immigrants by a Paris-based Chinese woman.

He made a first trip alone in the early hours of 1 April, transporting seven people, the court heard.

His mission was tracked by a police aerial surveillance unit.

Experienced boatmen

He then enlisted Wakelin to take charge of a second boat on 30 May when a further 13 people were brought to the UK.

The court heard both men were motivated by money, with Gallop receiving up to £20,000 in total, and Wakelin up to £9,000.

Prosecuting, Tony Prosser said: “The role demanded a great deal of expertise, and they were experienced boatmen.”

Gallop, a former Grenadier Guard, pleaded guilty to two counts of facilitating illegal entry into the UK.

‘Dangerous work’

Wakelin, a former Queen’s infantryman, admitted a single charge.

Jailing them, Judge Warwick McKinnon said: “This was very dangerous work crossing busy shipping lanes at night.

“Each of you was an integral part of what was a highly-sophisticated and organised enterprise.”

He added that they had shown little concern for the immigrants’ safety, choosing only to equip themselves with life jackets and helmets, and using boats without light or radar reflectors.

Speaking after their sentencing, Det Ch Insp Paul Gladstone, of Kent Police, said Gallop and Wakelin had used their military backgrounds to “establish an operation which took advantage of vulnerable people, who believed they were being helped”.

BBC News