Man who attacked bus driver in riot jailed

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November 15, 2024
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A man who launched a “violent and unprovoked attack” on a bus driver during a riot in Manchester has been jailed.

Jack Cregan, 32, told police he had been committing crime in Derbyshire when violent disorder broke out in Oldham Road in Newton Heath on 31 July so they had got the wrong man.

But videos on his mobile phone, which he had hidden but left on vibrate, showed he had been there.

He was sentenced to two and a half years.
‘Shouted and goaded’

Analysis of the mobile phone showed Cregan, of Argyll Close, Failsworth, was on Oldham Road during the riot.

GMP said they found his phone taped under a kitchen cabinet at his home after he left it on vibrate, saying “all it took was one phone call to unravel his lies”.

So far 20 people have been sentenced for disorder at Newton Heath, it added.

Another man, Colin Brown, 37, was jailed for two years and four months for his role in a riot in Piccadilly Gardens in the city on 3 August.

Brown pleaded guilty to violent disorder and robbery.

GMP said he was in the group that breached the metal barriers and shouted and goaded other protests groups and stole a scarf after pulling it from someone’s face.

He was also part of a group that attacked a man, the force said.

Det Ch Insp Jill Billington said officers were committed to protecting communities, and was continuing to investigate those involved in “deplorable and unnecessary violence”.

BBC News

Rioter sprayed police with fire extinguisher

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November 15, 2024
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A man who sprayed four police officers with a fire extinguisher at a hotel housing asylum seekers has been jailed for 20 months.

Steven Tiquin, 41, went to Potters International Hotel in Aldershot, Hampshire, on 3 August, three days after a violent mass protest, Salisbury Crown Court heard.

Finding no demonstrators there, he sprayed the officers, threw a bike, pulled an inspector’s tie and challenged him to a fight, the court was told.

Tiquin previously pleaded guilty to four counts of assaulting emergency workers, a charge of affray and a racially aggravated public order offence.

More than 200 people shouted abuse, banged on windows and set off flares at the previous protest at the hotel on 31 July.

It was part of “rioting that swept England following the murders of three little girls in Southport”, Judge Rufus Taylor told the court.

He said police were at the hotel making inquiries three days later when Tiquin arrived and “decided to make a statement”.

The scaffolder, who had been drinking, shouted “they shouldn’t be here” and “they’re going to rape our children” as well as verbally abusing the officers, the judge said.

The defendant sprayed an inspector in the mouth, hit a constable and repeatedly tried to bite the officers after being pinned to the ground, the court heard.

Two of the officers suffered minor injuries, while children inside the hotel were “petrified”, the judge said.

Barrister Lucy Conroy, defending, said the father of one was “exceptionally remorseful and embarrassed… by his own stupidity”.

Tiquin, of Grosvenor Road, gave the judge a thumbs up when the sentence was read out.

BBC News

TikTok influencer sentenced over anti-Semitic posts

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November 14, 2024
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A TikTok influencer who posted “nauseating” anti-Semitic videos online has been given two suspended prison sentences.

Fiona Ryan, 40, who has more than 50,000 followers on TikTok, was found guilty of four charges relating to “highly offensive” material between March and April.

She pleaded guilty earlier this month to two other offences which took place in October 2023, when she posted on X “showing support and glorification for the actions of Hamas”.

Ryan, from Salisbury in Wiltshire, was sentenced at the town’s magistrates court on Thursday.

She was given a 12-week suspended prison sentence for four separate offences of sending offensive communications in 2024, and an eight-week suspended sentence for the two offences in 2023, to run consecutively.

District Judge Timothy Pattinson said Ryan’s comments were “disgusting and nauseating” and “motivated by hostility based on race and religion”.

Mr Cooper, for the prosecution, told the court the four 2024 offences covered a number of social media messages.

‘Angry and disgusted’

Victim impact statements were read from former Wilton Town Councillor Alexandra Boyd, who is Jewish, who said she stepped back from her role because the material posted by Ryan “shattered my sense of security” and “left me feeling vulnerable and targeted”.

The court also heard from Ryan’s neighbours who said the constant playing of a song about antisemitism – played to the tune of ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ – made them “feel angry and disgusted”.

They added that Ryan’s behaviour made them “fear for their lives”.

Ryan, of Laverstock Road, told the court she was “remorseful” for posting the content.

She was also sentenced to 20 weeks’ rehabilitation, and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £154 and prosecution costs of £650.

BBC News

Two men jailed over August riot outside hotel

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November 14, 2024
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Two men have been sentenced for their involvement in rioting outside a Staffordshire hotel.

Danny Hollick, 41, from Tamworth, was sentenced to two years and two months in prison and Ian Green, 55, from Kettlebrook, Tamworth, was jailed for two years.

Both were sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on Monday after previously admitting violent disorder.

It brings the total number of people charged over this summer’s violence in Staffordshire to 63, with 45 convicted and 29 sentenced, according to Staffordshire Police.

The force said Hollick threw a large rock at an officer in Tamworth on 4 August and repeatedly challenged those on the front line.

Meanwhile, Green told people to target the doors of the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, and repeatedly obstructed police who were on the front line on 4 August.

A spokesperson for Staffordshire Police said the force was continuing to trawl through evidence to bring action against people responsible for the violent disorder both in Stoke-on-Trent on 3 August and in Tamworth on 4 August.

They appealed to members of the public to contact them with any information which may help their investigations.

BBC News

Liverpool rioter has hotel disorder charge dropped

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November 14, 2024
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A man charged in connection with disorder in both Liverpool and Rotherham has had the South Yorkshire element of the case against him dropped.

Christopher Clayton admitted taking part in rioting in Liverpool on 3 August but denied charges relating to the violence which broke out at a Holiday Inn Express in Manvers the following day.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told Sheffield Crown Court as the 66-year-old was facing sentence for more serious matters in Liverpool, it would not be pursuing the other charges.

Clayton, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, will be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on a date to be confirmed.

Neil Coxon, prosecuting, said Clayton had filmed himself making disparaging remarks about police officers outside the hotel in South Yorkshire, but appeared to have left the scene before the situation erupted into major mob violence.

He said the CPS had “reviewed the situation” and decided to “offer no evidence” for the Rotherham charges of violent disorder and a racially aggravated public order offence.

Dozens of men have now been sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court following the hotel riot, which saw the building, housing more than 200 asylum seekers, besieged by people trying to set it on fire.

More than 50 police officers were injured, as well as police horses and dogs, and the asylum seekers and staff trapped in the hotel feared they would be burnt alive, a previous sentencing heard.

In Merseyside the total arrests made in relation to the riots so far stands at 136, with 94 people charged and 73 sentenced to a total of 156 years and six months in prison.

BBC News

Boy, 17, ‘ashamed’ for part in Hull riot

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November 14, 2024
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A 17-year-old boy has apologised for his actions during this summer’s rioting in Hull.

The teenager, who cannot be named, was caught on CCTV damaging a BMW car, which had three Romanian men inside, after trouble flared in the city centre on 3 August.

He was also filmed pushing a wheelie bin towards police on Jameson Street and later throwing missiles.

The boy was handed a 12-month referral order at Medway Magistrates’ Court, sitting as a youth court, on Thursday.

The court heard that unrest across the country had been fuelled by misinformation on social media that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an illegal migrant.

It heard that the boy initially had no idea what the disorder in Hull was about, but had become caught up in it.

The boy accepted his behaviour was unacceptable and had written to the judge to express his remorse and shame, the court was told.

Passing sentence, District Judge Nelson told the teenager he accepted that he understood “the horror of those events” and the impact it had on the three men in the car and police officers.

“You were influenced by a significant degree of adult peer pressure,” the judge added.

The court also heard the defendant, who had not been in trouble before, was easily influenced.

The boy previously admitted violent disorder and racially aggravated criminal damage for his part in the unrest.

In addition to his sentence, he was ordered to pay costs of £85 with a victim surcharge of £26.

BBC News

Rioting ex-soldier tried to blow up Hanley mosque

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November 13, 2024
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Simon Beech faces being sent back to jail after he threw missiles at police as they city centre descended into chaos

A rioting ex-squaddie who threw missiles at police as Hanley descended into anarchy had previously tried to blow up a mosque. Simon Beech faces jail for his role in the post-Southport city centre chaos in the summer.

And it has now emerged that the former soldier previously served a 10-year prison sentence for setting fire to Hanley’s City Central Mosque in 2011 when he was aged just 23. Beech, who was serving with the 2nd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment at the time, hatched his blast plot after being angered by extremist Muslims burning poppies.

In one Facebook comment posted on Armistice Day, Beech, who was a member of the British National Party and the English Defence League at the time, wrote: “The time has come. We burn their place, burn the lot of them.”

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard at the time that Beech and his friend Garreth Foster carried out their attack in the early hours of December 3 2010 when they connected a pipe to a live gas main and fed it 163ft into the first floor of the Regent Road mosque. They then lit a fire on the ground floor. But firefighters put out the fire before it took hold.

Beech – who quit the Army following his arrest – and Foster were found guilty of arson by a jury. Now 13 years after that conviction, Beech is set to be locked up again.

The court heard Beech repeatedly ignored police in Hanley on August 3 when he was asked to move back. He threw a missile at police and repeatedly challenged public order officers.

The defendant, now aged 36, of Chell Heath, will be sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on November 25 after pleading guilty to violent disorder.

A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: “We’re continuing to trawl through the evidence we have in-order to take action against those responsible for the violent disorder in Stoke-on-Trent on 3 August and Tamworth on 4 August.”

Stoke Sentinel

Man convicted of rioting tried to blow up a mosque

By
November 13, 2024
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A man who pleaded guilty to taking part in disorder over the summer previously tried to blow up a mosque, it has emerged.

Simon Beech, 36, of Chell Heath, appeared at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Monday after being involved in riots in Hanley on 3 August.

He is due to be sentenced on 25 November.

In December 2011 he and another man, Garreth Foster, were sentenced to 10 years in prison for deliberately setting fire to Hanley’s Regent Road mosque.

Amjid Wazir, the chairman of City Central Mosque, said Beech did not seem to have learned any lessons after his previous crime.

In 2011, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Beech and Foster ran a pipe into the mosque from a nearby gas meter in a bid to spark an explosion.

The building suffered damage put at £50,000 as a result of the fire.

Beech told the court during the 2011 trial that he had been a member of the English Defence League and the British National Party, but said he was not racist and did not believe his views to be extreme.

Disorder spread across the UK during the summer partly due to false claims online about the alleged perpetrator involved in the murder of three girls in Southport in July.

Mr Wazir praised the actions by police and the legal system to bring those responsible to justice.

“When the riots were happening in Stoke, and elsewhere in the country, people were so scared of going out,” he said.

“They were worried, they were nervous.”

BBC News

Bolton rioter threw rocks at officers and stomped on police car

By
November 12, 2024
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A teenager has been locked up after throwing rocks, stomping on a police car and insulting an officer.

Bradley Wilkinson, 18, played a “prominent” part in the riots in Bolton on August 4 this year, where widespread public disorder took place in the town centre.

Wilkinson, of Half Acre Lane, Blackrod, appeared at Bolton Crown Court to be sentenced.

Prosecuting, John Barrett told the court about the circumstances of the day, with rival groups facing off in the town centre separated by police officers, before it escalated to “disorder and violence”.

Wilkinson was caught on body worn camera footage and CCTV, being seen between the times of 1.45pm and 4.55pm.

He was seen at first “not wearing” a face covering in one of the protest groups but was afterwards seen with one on. He was also said to be “seeking confrontation with Asian males” on Bradshawgate.

CCTV footage of Wilkinson’s offending in the riots was shown in court.

At 2.06pm he threw “rocks and stones” at police and other protestors, then shortly afterwards at 2.12pm he was shown pushing an industrial bin towards officers.

Later on, at around 3.15pm, he was shown on Victoria Square with his face covered and holding two wine glasses, one of which was broken.

At 4.20pm, Wilkinson swore at a police officer in a supermarket car park before picking up a bottle and “launching it” at him.

Finally, an untimed incident took place where he climbed onto a police car and “stomped” on its roof.

Mr Barrett described the role he played in the disorder as “prominent”, to which Judge Nicholas Clarke KC replied: “He wasn’t out shopping that afternoon, was he?”

He was then arrested by police while on his way to another protest in Wigan on August 7.

Wilkinson has no previous convictions, the court heard.

He had previously pleaded guilty to violent disorder, possession of an offensive weapon and criminal damage.

Defending, Michael James said: “I can’t explain for the life of me why he was there, and he can’t either.

“He says he is not racist, one of his best teachers at school was a Mr Patel, and he would never display any racist attitudes.

“This is a young man who has suffered a troubled upbringing.”

He stressed that although Wilkinson was involved in the riots, he has not displayed “any racist or discriminatory behaviour”.

He added: “He has had difficulties in education and emotionally, those led to him doing what we would say is acting in an impulsive and irrational manner.

“He can’t explain why he behaved in this way.”

Mr James highlighted Wilkinson’s educational and behavioural issues in school and his immaturity, having been only 18 when the offence was committed.

He added that the defendant has shown “genuine remorse” and is sorry for what he did.

Judge Clarke said: “You were not there innocently or accidentally, you were there to cause very serious public disorder.”

He added: “It impacted on the harmonious living of diverse groups who normally visit the town centre.

“Members of the public had to run away or take refuge in shops, some had to close early. There was a financial loss in the centre that lingers.”

He described Wilkinson as an “active and persistent participant” in the riots and said that despite his prospect of rehabilitation, he had a “public duty” that those involved in the disorder should be punished appropriately.

He sentenced him to 16 months in custody.

Bolton News

Care worker who streamed riot aftermath jailed

By
November 12, 2024
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A care worker who livestreamed a group of masked and hooded men making racist comments on TikTok after a riot in Staffordshire has been jailed for nine months.

Cameron Bell, 23, was caught on CCTV wearing her work uniform as about 20 people, many armed with planks of wood and what appeared to be lengths of metal, walked through Tamworth on the night of 4 August.

Stafford Crown Court heard Bell was not present during violence earlier the same day at the town’s Holiday Inn Express, which was set alight in the disorder.

Judge John Edwards said Bell’s comments on the livestream were abhorrent and had the “potential to fan the flames”.

Rejecting calls for a suspended sentence, he said: “Anyone involved in violent disorder must command immediate custody, with the need for deterrence being acute.”

He was shown TikTok videos, filmed by Bell, of Worthing Grove, Tamworth, after she left work and saw the armed group as she walked home.

She was heard swearing while referring to asylum seekers as “tramps”.

Bell admitted violent disorder in September and has been in custody since being arrested.

She appeared to be on the verge of tears in the dock as her lawyer, Stephen Rudge, told the court she was “on the periphery” of a group which had not confronted anyone.

Mr Rudge said: “Her involvement is to upload the TikTok footage that was not encouraging anyone to join in or extend the violence that had been seen earlier on.”

Much of the TikTok stream had been rather amateurish, Mr Rudge argued, giving a view of the cobblestones in Tamworth but showing no acts of violence.

Passing sentence, the judge told Bell members of the group – which was caught on CCTV near to a statue of Sir Robert Peel – were armed and clearly intent on further violence.

‘Fuelled by misinformation’

There were disturbances across this country after the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a dance class in Southport in late July.

“The violence was fuelled by misinformation and misplaced far-right sentiment,” the judge said.

“It spread to various towns and cities across the nation including, as we know, Tamworth.

“A hotel in Tamworth housing asylum seekers was targeted, with significant damage being caused and injuries sustained.”

He said Bell was among a group believed to have been heading towards a different hotel in the town.

BBC News