First man charged with riot jailed

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September 27, 2024
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The first adult in England to be charged with riot following widespread disorder last month has been jailed for four years and four months.

Kieran Usher, 32, of Sunderland, pleaded guilty after being filmed working with a group of at least 20 people “to rain missiles on to attending police officers” in the city, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

Judge Gittens told Newcastle Crown Court Usher’s actions had brought “shame on the city of Sunderland and shame on the union flag he was wearing”.

Hundreds of people were involved in a night of violence on 2 August, during which police officers were repeatedly attacked, a building was set ablaze and businesses looted.

Video footage played to the court showed a masked Usher holding a phone in one hand with a can of lager in the other.

The court heard he played “a leading role escalating the disorder”, picking up missiles, throwing them at police officers and beckoning others in the crowd towards the police line.

Four officers needed hospital treatment.

Usher’s defence said he did not associate with the far right and wore the flag to fit in with the people who were there.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Gittens said right-thinking members of the community were left “shocked, distressed and in fear” by the violence on display.

The judge took into account that Usher, who has learning difficulties, made full admissions to police and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

Northumbria Police Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine has said the cost of policing the riots ran to more than £1m.

BBC News

You can read the sentencing remarks here

A further six men jailed over UK violent disorder

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September 27, 2024
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Six more men have been jailed for their part in disorder which took place in Stoke-on-Trent and Tamworth over the summer, including one offender who wore a pig mask as he targeted a hotel and police officers with missiles.

On Friday, Tyler Marchese, 21, was jailed for two years and one month for violent disorder and assaulting a police officer in the Hanley area of the city on 3 August.

Daniel Bagguley, 31, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, was also sentenced for violent disorder in Hanley as was Joseph Pointon, 23, from Biddulph – they received 26 months and 28 months respectively.

Three others were sentenced on Thursday.

They included Jordan Jones, 27, of Meir; and Jordan Winyard, 28, of no fixed address.

Jones was sentenced at the same court to two years and two months after he previously admitted violent disorder in Stoke-on-Trent and possession of cannabis.

He was caught on CCTV launching a brick at officers and shouting abuse, according to Staffordshire Police.

Winyard was given a three-year sentence at Stafford Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to violent disorder in Tamworth on 4 August.

He wore a pig mask as he launched missiles at police officers, police dogs and the Holiday Inn Express hotel, according to Staffordshire Police.

The force recently said it had arrested a total of 114 people and charged 46 following the disorder in Stoke-on-Trent on 3 August and in Tamworth on 4 August.

Riots and anti-immigration protests took place across the UK after three young girls were killed in Southport, Merseyside, on 29 July.

The unrest was fuelled by false claims on social media that the suspect was an asylum seeker.

BBC News

A pram, a gran and a shameful family day out in Newton Heath

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September 26, 2024
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‘What on earth were you thinking?’



On a warm summer evening in July, a Facebook post began circulating north Manchester. It called for action on Oldham Road.

“Let’s get them out,” it declared. “6pm today. Stand up and take note, because if you don’t, no-one will.”

Soon, a mob of up to 70 people had answered the call, gathering outside a Holiday Inn in Newton Heath. Before long, bottles, bricks and eggs filled the sky.

Police were scrambled to defend the hotel and its residents – the majority of whom were asylum seekers. ‘Protestors’ flung abuse and obscenities as officers hurried them inside during shameful scenes of violence.

In the sky above, a helicopter hovered – tracking the crowd’s every move.

Among them on July 31 were Vanessa Smith and her daughter Nevey. The pair were captured on video throwing liquids at police officers and asylum seekers.

Just metres from where a man was being taken to the floor and detained by three policemen, a bird’s eye view showed Nevey, 21, was pushing a pram.

Sat inside was her 20-month-old son. Her mother was seen recording the incident.

Just days after her daughter was hauled before the same judge, Vanessa Smith, 42, was sentenced for her actions today (September 26).

The Smiths were part of a violent crowd which gathered in front of what was supposed to be a place of safety for defenceless people seeking refuge.

One of Manchester’s most senior judges had strong words for Nevey Smith as she faced the consequences of her actions. “What on earth were you thinking?” he questioned the 21-year-old single mother in Manchester Crown Court earlier this week.

He characterised her decision to get involved while her son was present in a pram as an ‘extraordinary and concerning feature’ of the case. “I doubt very much you had his safety and wellbeing in mind,” he added.

During Nevey Smith’s sentencing hearing, it was revealed that when questioned, she admitted she didn’t understand what an asylum seeker was. “That aspect of the case and indeed other aspects of the case show you have quite a lot to learn and quite a lot of growing up to do,” Judge Patrick Field KC told Smith.

Today, the same judge took to court to sentence her mother. During the shocking disorder, a bus was attacked and an asylum seeker being escorted into the hotel was injured by flying glass. The prosecution told how Vanessa Smith was seen as part of the group and threw liquid towards police officers.

Vanessa Smith, a mum-of-three with two other children aged 16 and 11, handed herself in to police and pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

Judge Field told the elder Smith that she had been ‘wholly misguided’ in her involvement in the mob and the court heard how she has suffered the loss of her employment at a Failsworth café because of it. Vanessa Smith, of Farnborough Road in Failsworth, was sentenced to an 18 month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work, 15 rehabilitation activity days, and instructed to make a payment of £150 to the cost of proceedings.

The judge accepted the defence’s submission that it was an ‘isolated incident and out of character’, with the throwing of water being the height of her contribution to the day’s chaos. But the judge called the behaviour ‘mistaken, ill-advised’, and’ completely unacceptable’.

“You should be duly ashamed, particularly as there were children present – your grandson was present. I’m confident that what we’ve just seen and heard about is not the example you would want to hold up for your children and grandchildren,” added the judge.

Vanessa Smith sighed as she was spared jail, as Judge Field said: “You’ve received a merciful sentence, don’t let me down.”

Manchester Evening News

Racist thug surrounded by chants of ‘EDL’ was ‘meant to go home on the bus’

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September 26, 2024
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A Leeds thug who racially abused a woman to such an extent she is scared to go to work said he was supposed to get the bus home from a day of drinking when he became involved in a “demonstration.”

Jordan Plain, 30, of Broadway Horsforth, was captured on camera on August 3 in Leeds city centre making racist gestures towards the woman. The two short clips shown to Leeds Crown Court on Friday, August 9 showed Plain making the gestures surrounded by people swigging from beer cans and chanting “EDL EDL EDL” and “Tommy Robinson”.

Others in the clips were also observed making the Nazi salute.

In a victim personal statement she read to the court, the victim said: “Many of us have been left scared to leave our houses due to this incident. Many have also defended him for what he did to me and said it was right. It was not. I was born in Leeds and lived here my whole life. After this weekend’s events I don’t even feel welcome in my own home. I like to think I’m strong but I would be lying saying this hasn’t impacted my whole life.”

The woman said the incident has “had an impact on her every day life.” She said: “I’ve never experienced racism on this level in my whole life…This situation has had an impact on my every day life…I work in the city centre and I was scared I was going to get racially or religiously harassed…I have decided to go back to work but my mind isn’t at work…I haven’t been able to perform at my best at work.”

Prosecution counsel, Heather Gilmore told the court Plain was arrested on August 5 and he made admissions. He has previous convictions for possession of an imitation firearm, criminal damage, escaping lawful custody, burglary with intent to cause lawful damage as a youth.

Read more: Crying bingo fan shouts four words at police before dog latches on

As an adult he has previous convictions for racial and religiously aggravated criminal damage, taking of a motor-vehicle without consent, theft, driving while disqualified, breaching court orders and robbery.

The court heard from a Probation Service worker who had interviewed Plain in the cells before the sentencing hearing. He said Plain had told him he shared an eight-year-old daughter with an ex-partner who is of mixed-raced heritage. The Probation Service worker said Plain told him that “on the day in question he went out into the city centre, was drinking in a number of establishments and during the course of that morning he described his level of intoxication as a 6 out of 10 and he visited two establishments and thereafter his intentions were to go home.”

He added: “He intended to go to the Headrow to catch the bus home to Horsforth and while on that route saw this demonstration taking place and thereafter he became involved and participated in that demonstration. It led to him becoming involved in the offences committed. He said he didn’t want to make any excuses, he takes full responsibility and he appeared to show genuine remorse. He said, ‘I’m ashamed of what I have done, it should never have happened.'”

The worker said he believes the offences were “very much linked to his alcohol intake on the day.”

Mitigating, Mike Walsh said Plain makes “no effort to justify his actions.” He said Plain has written a letter to the court which shows “genuine remorse.”

Addressing Plain, Judge Kearl said: “The context of your offending is that it arises out of civil unrest and disorder in many parts of the country. The unrest has been generated as a result of the death of three little girls in Southport and the reaction from various parts of our society towards other parts of our society.

“Stemming from that incident, groups of protesters have gathered and on occasion clashed, sometimes using violence towards each other, sometimes towards the police, sometimes towards entirely innocent and unconnected people and their property.

“In a democratic society, such as that which exists in this country people are entitled to protest peacefully. They are also entitled to express their views, whatever their views may be, but each of those freedoms, to protest and to speak, have limits and boundaries.

Read more: New photos of Rotherham riot suspects released after hotel attack

“When a protest moves away from being peaceful, towards violence then it becomes illegal and against the law. When speaking, whether directly to others or indirectly through social media platforms, what is said must not contravene the law.

“The law applies to everyone, no matter what colour, race, religion, or political persuasion they are. There is no distinction. The law is there to protect everyone in our society both in terms of personal safety, businesses and premises, whether people’s homes or commercial properties.”

The judge said Plain joined a “Pro-EDL group” before gesticulating towards counter-protesters “whose number included people of colour.” He added: “You were saying they looked like monkeys and on several occasions rubbed your lips, insinuating rubber lips…

“You then got off a barrier and imitated the manner in which Muslim people pray in order to mock their religion. This was grossly offensive, racially aggravated behaviour.”

Judge Kearl told Plain: “What you have done cannot be viewed in isolation. It must be viewed against a background of unrest and disorder across the country. This was your contribution to that disorder. It took place at a time when the social climate was particularly sensitive.”

Plain was jailed for eight months.

MSN

You can read the sentencing remarks here

People charged following North East riots in court

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September 26, 2024
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A number of people have appeared in court in connection with a series of riots and violent disorder which took place in the summer across the North East.

Defendants from around the region were charged following outbreaks of largescale disorder in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool as well as smaller disturbances in Darlington and Willington in late July early August.

Judge Francis Laird KC dealt with about 20 defendants throughout a day of hearings to set trial dates and sentencing hearings.

Rachel Masters, prosecuting, handled the cases and brought together several defendants into different trial dates in the coming months.

Leah Lee, of Hall Lane Estate, Willington, has pleaded guilty to racially aggravated damage to property after she smashed a window during a violent disturbance in the town on August 5.

A charge of violent disorder was allowed to lay on file.

The court heard how the teenager called a man a ‘P*** b******’ after smashing a window.

The 19-year-old was remanded in custody until she is sentenced on Friday, November 8.

Tabitha Buck, representing the teenager, asked for a pre-sentence report to be conducted as her client was a vulnerable young woman.

Judge Laird warned the teenager that she is facing a custodial sentence for her behaviour.

Andrew Livingstone, Clifton Street, Middlesbrough, who has pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article following the violent disorder in the town on August 4.

The judge heard how the 53-year-old’s home had been targeted by a group of youths and he came out to chase them away.

Tabitha Buck, representing the defendant, said he handed over one of the youths to the police before they discovered he was carrying a knife.

Judge Laird KC said: “You are in a different position to many of those who have appeared before me charged with violent disorder from these events.

“As I understand it, you were at your home and people came to cause trouble and you chased them away.

“Unfortunately for you, you had a knife on you at the time. It is accepted that it was not produced.”

Livingstone will return to court next week to be sentenced.

A teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will be sentenced on Thursday, October 10, for his behaviour in Middlesbrough on August 4.

Paul Thirlwell, of Gloucester Crescent, Wigan; 19-year-old McCauley Shirbon, of Cornwall Street, Hartlepool; and 42-year-old Anthony Allen, of Ormesby Road, Hartlepool; are all accused of being involved in violent disorder in Hartlepool on July 31.

All three had earlier entered a not guilty plea to the charge.

The 42-year-old Thirlwell pleaded guilty to a charge of racially aggravated common assault from the same date.

All three cases were joined together and a five-day trial will start on December 3.

Karl Croaker, of Longford Street, Middlesbrough, who is charged with violent disorder in Middlesbrough on August 4.

The 31-year-old denies the charge and will go on trial on February 3, 2025 alongside other co-accused.

Regan Walker, 23, of Saltney Road, Norton, near Stockton, had pleaded not guilty to possession of an offensive weapon, a metal bar, when he was allegedly spotted holding it while on Park Road North, Middlesbrough.

Connor Stokes, 26, of Mansfield Avenue, Thornaby, had pleaded not guilty to violent disorder.

While Lucas Taylor, 44, of Worcester Street, Middlesbrough, is also due to go on trial with the two other defendants after he was charged with violent disorder.

They will go on trial in February.

Ethan Bowes, 18, of Woodhouse, Road, Guisborough, 42-year-old Christopher Howard, of Huntley Close, Middlesbrough, 20-year-old Kaleb Peacock-Lightfoot, of Dixon Grove, Middlesbrough, and Anthony Brown, 37, of Windsor Road, Middlesbrough, have all pleaded not guilty to violent disorder from events on August 4.

Their cases were all joined together and the trial will take place on November 25 this year.

Judge Laird KC remanded them in custody until that date.

Northern Echo

Leah Lee has pleaded guilty to racially aggravated damage to property

By
September 26, 2024
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Leah Lee, of Hall Lane Estate, Willington, has pleaded guilty to racially aggravated damage to property after she smashed a window during a violent disturbance in the town on August 5.

A charge of violent disorder was allowed to lay on file.

The court heard how the teenager called a man a ‘P*** b******’ after smashing a window.

The 19-year-old was remanded in custody until she is sentenced on Friday, November 8.

Tabitha Buck, representing the teenager, asked for a pre-sentence report to be conducted as her client was a vulnerable young woman.

Judge Laird warned the teenager that she is facing a custodial sentence for her behaviour.

Northern Echo

Four admit role in violent disorder

By
September 26, 2024
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Four people, have admitted taking part in violent disorder in Staffordshire in August.

Three men and a boy all pleaded guilty to charges relating to unrest in Hanley and Tamworth – where a Holiday Inn housing asylum seekers was targeted by rioters.

Hayden Cooper-Horne, 18, of Tamworth, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and possessing a controlled drug of class B.

Lewis Edwards, 21, of Bentilee, Stoke-on-Trent, Jordan Winyard, 28, of no fixed address, and a 16-year-old boy, of Stoke-on-Trent, all pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

During the riot in Tamworth, Cooper-Horne threw rocks at officers, while Winyard was seen wearing a pig mask when he threw missiles at officers, police dogs and the hotel, Staffordshire Police said.

It was one of a wave of protests and riots that swept the UK at the beginning of August in the wake of the Southport stabbings.

In part they were fuelled by false claims the suspect was a migrant who had come to the country in a small boat.

In Hanley, the 16-year-old boy was seen wearing a balaclava as he launched missiles at police.

Edwards was also seen throwing a rock at officers.

Staffordshire Police said 105 people had now been arrested and 42 charged with offences relating to the violent disorder.

Winyard is due to be sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday, while Cooper-Horne is due to appear at the same court on 8 November.

The 16-year-old boy – who cannot be named for legal reasons – is due to be sentenced at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre on 16 October and Edwards is due to be sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 1 November.

BBC News

Boy, 15, ‘so sorry’ for part in city riot

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September 26, 2024
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A 15-year-old boy has told a court he is “so ashamed” of his part in this summer’s rioting.

The teenager, who cannot be named, was caught on CCTV throwing missiles at police officers and stealing items from Greggs and Lush in Hull city centre on 3 August.

His parents took him to a police station after they spotted him in videos showing the disorder, Grimsby Magistrates’ Court, sitting as a youth court, was told on Thursday.

He pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to violent disorder and two counts of burglary but avoided prison after the judge told him he felt his remorse was “genuine”.

Several towns and cities across England saw disorder following the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on 29 July in Southport, Merseyside.

In Hull, officers were attacked, shops looted and fires started as a demonstration turned violent.

The boy told the court: “I know what I did was wrong and I can’t take back my actions. I am trying my hardest to turn my life around. I’m so ashamed of myself and I am so, so sorry.”

As well as being captured on CCTV, the boy appeared on TikTok videos throwing rocks, water bottles and pieces of metal at police.

He was also seen helping others throw a ladder at officers and encouraged another person to smash the window of a Greggs store before stealing food and moving on to Lush where he helped himself to bath products.
‘Supportive family’

Joe Painter, mitigating, said: “He was involved to a significant degree and he appreciates that. It’s felt that [the boy] was heavily influenced by his peers.”

Sentencing, District Judge Daniel Curtis explained why he had decided not to jail the teenager.

He said: “It is not lost on me that your family, when they saw that you were involved, took you to the police station. That for me is the hallmark of a loving and supportive family.”

The boy, who was supported in the dock by his mother, said: “It has hurt them in many ways. I am willing to do anything to make it right.”

The judge said he felt the boy’s statement to the court was both “genuine” and “reflects remorse”.

“If I sent you to custody, that would have a dramatic impact on your education,” said the judge.

“It would have a dramatic impact on your future as a child because it would most likely be that you were in an institution with people that led you astray on the 3rd of August.”

In addition to the referral order, the boy was ordered to pay £200 in compensation.

BBC News

‘Madness’ saw rioter rip off police van mirror

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September 26, 2024
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A rioter who ripped a wing mirror off a police van in a “moment of complete and utter madness” has been jailed.

Dean Fowler, 32, was filmed attacking the van during widespread violence outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham on 4 August.

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder at a previous hearing and said he “wished he had never gone” to the riot, his barrister told the court.

Fowler, from Barnsley, was jailed for two and a half years at Sheffield Crown Court.

Video played during his sentencing showed how the van was one of two police vehicles targeted by rioters, who violently rocked one of them as they surrounded them both.

Laura Marshall, defending, said her client had left his home to “clear his head” after an argument with his partner, and saw what was happening at the hotel on social media.

She said he made the “foolish decision to go down there”.

Fowler was “extremely remorseful” and wished to apologise to officers, she added.

“He said it was moment of complete and utter madness and he wished he had never gone,” Ms Marshall said.

The court heard how 64 police officers, four dogs and a horse were injured in the violence outside the hotel, which was being used to house asylum seekers.

Neil Coxon, prosecuting, told the court one senior police officer said in a statement that he had “never seen a crowd so out of control” and it was “sheer mob mentality”.

BBC News

Spitting racist thugs ‘violated, degraded and dehumanised’ woman caught in middle of Piccadilly Gardens ‘protest’

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September 25, 2024
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‘I could feel how hateful those words were, especially as I was there on my own without anyone I knew’

A woman was subjected to vile racist abuse before being spat on during the ‘protests’ in Manchester last month.

Thomas Richard, 56, was one of a large group who gathered in Piccadilly Gardens on August 3. Footage played to Manchester Crown Court, showed how the group encircled three young women who were wearing hijabs and headscarves before hurling Islamophobic abuse at them.

During the disorder a number of males, including Richard, can be seen spitting towards them. One of the women, who had been out shopping in the city centre, was spat on by another man, with the spit landing on her face.

The ‘protest’ arose after false information about the identity and background of the man accused of killing three children in Southport was spread online.

Earlier pleading guilty to violent disorder, today (September 24) Richard, of Miles Platting, was jailed.

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, the woman said: “I am very much appalled and disgraced at the behaviour of the far-right EDL members towards myself. The assault was completely unprovoked as I was just watching from a sensible distance and do not feel under any circumstances I deserved what had happened to me.

“Being spat on is a despicable act that made me feel extremely violated, degraded and dehumanised. I felt scared and worried for my safety (and others) in that moment and I still do.

“As a result of this assault I am now terrified to leave my own home because of these people and what happened to me.”

The court heard that the 22-year-old who describes herself as a white British woman, wearing a hijab and a keffiyeh scarf, representing Palestine, was observing the large group and police in Piccadilly Gardens during the afternoon.

“Seeing that the group were becoming more violent, and the police were trying to disperse them in a different direction, she tried to go across Piccadilly Gardens,” prosecutor Kate Gaskell said.

“She heard shouts of “Stop the boats” AND “Go back home”, as well as comments about her God, Allah, and religion. She said ‘I could feel how hateful those words were, especially as I was there on my own without anyone I knew’.

“She was confronted by one member who said, ‘What are you doing here, can’t you see you are antagonising us’. She informed him she was simply watching. In retrospect she thought perhaps she should have left but she didn’t want to let them win, and it was a public place.”

The court heard that the situation escalated quickly, during which time two Muslim girls in headscarves came to join her. They were quickly surrounded by a large group of individuals chanting “Go back home.”

The woman told them to leave the two girls alone, at which point the insults were directed at her, and a large number began filming her. They commented that she had been brainwashed, and asked whether she had been married when she was 6 years old, it was said.

The crowd became more aggressive and started shouting ‘Get that terrorist flag off her’ pulling her Keffiyeh scarf before several Muslim males came to assist her.

“Before she had a chance to move, she felt spit land on her right cheek,” Ms Gaskell added.

In footage obtained by the police, Richard could be seen chanting and pointing his fingers in a gun gesture at the three girls, shouting: ‘F*** off home.”

“He was aggressively shouting and spat in the direction of the three girls, though he was not responsible for the spit that landed on the victim,” the prosecutor said.

“The defendant continued shouting ‘F*** off home’ and then ‘F*** off to Palestine’. One of the photojournalists present further heard him say something to the effect of ‘Take the burkas’ and ‘We want our country back’.

Damien Zelazowski, mitigating, conceded that the three young women were ‘targeted’ by the group for some time, and were ‘pursued’ when they were under police protection.

On the day in question, he said: “He was passing through on his way to St Anne’s Square to go to the footbank. He saw the protests and became involved in the incident thinking it would be more peaceful than it was.

“But he didn’t move away and he became more involved. He does offer his apologies, he is ashamed of what took place. He became emboldened by the crown and, to use his wording, swept up.”

Sentencing Richard, who has 55 previous convictions for 141 offences, Judge Patrick Field KC said the ‘protest’ had the appearance of people ‘venting ill informed and ignorant prejudices’.

“They were racist, ill informed and Islamophobia chanting and vile abuse towards her. Her calm defiance in the fact of what was being said to her was frankly admirable and humbling,” he said.

“She stood up for herself and her beliefs in the face of the nasty, ill educated and intolerant comments. She said she felt dehumanised by what happened to her – she demonstrated more humanity than many others present.

“You were threatening and deliberately insulting her not because you took a personal dislike to her, but simply because of her Muslim faith.”

Richard, of Kingsland Close, Miles Platting, was jailed for 20 months. He was also banned from entering a certain area in Manchester city centre for three years under the terms of a criminal behaviour order.

Manchester Evening News