Sunderland dad jailed after throwing missiles at police outside Aldi during riot

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October 23, 2025
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Shane Amer, of Sunderland, has become the latest yob to be locked up for rioting in Sunderland

A rioter threw missiles including a beer keg at police during scenes which brought shame on Sunderland. Shane Amer has become the latest mindless yob to be locked up for turning the city centre into a no-go zone for members of the public on August 2 last year.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Amer was not driven by any ideology but joined in when the mass disorder broke out while he was out drinking. Prosecutor Neil Pallister said he was seen with others participating in a series of acts amounting to riot.

Mr Pallister told the court: “The video compilation shows the defendant, who was wearing a blue jacket and grey trousers, throwing missiles at the police line outside The Yard building. He then goes on to commit further acts of violence, throwing missiles at the police during an interaction outside Aldi and he threw numerous missiles at the police outside The Yard building.

“He and others were throwing items including rocks, traffic cones and a heavy floor support stand, towards the police line. He and others threw metal beer kegs towards the police. He threw one at head height towards an officer, who had to duck out of the way.

“He was seen with others kicking at windows at The Yard building and they kicked and pushed a bin towards the same building.

“He took a leading role. He came across a parked police vehicle and used a metal beer keg to try to smash the unoccupied police vehicle. He then rolled the keg along the ground, having covered his hands with clothing he was wearing, presumably to try to remove fingerprints and DNA evidence.

“He was part of a large group advancing towards the police line, pushing a picnic table towards the police out of the front of the Empire theatre.”

Amer, 29, of Shrewsbury Crescent, Sunderland, who has ten previous convictions, including six for theft and four for burglary, pleaded guilty to riot. He was jailed for three years and two months.

Judge Gavin Doig said Amer and others had “brought shame on the city of Sunderland” and he said each individual act “inflames and encourages others to behave in a similar fashion”, meaning the overall picture has to be considered when passing sentence.

Cole Cockburn, defending, said: “He did not plan to be there. His involvement was not ideological. He went out with friends and found himself in scenes of escalating disorder.

“His actions were not the worst witnessed that night. At the time he was abusing cocaine and alcohol but he is now sober of those although he has substituted this was occasional cannabis use.

“He acknowledges the terror those officers must have felt and is very ashamed to have played a part. He feels he has embarrassed himself and his family and his one-year-old son. He is ashamed because his son would one day know his dad went to prison.

“He has mental health problems. He thinks that stemmed from a previous addiction to crack cocaine.

The Chronicle

Covid denier found guilty of encouraging terrorism

By
October 23, 2025
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A Covid denier is facing a prison sentence after he was found guilty of encouraging terrorism.

The Old Bailey had heard how 60-year-old Paul Martin, from south London, was a prolific poster online in a group called “The Resistance UK” during the pandemic, urging people to stage an armed revolt and attack the country’s infrastructure.

Prosecutor Julia Faure-Walker told the Old Bailey that his messages were designed to “stir up the idea of violent revolt using weapons for his ideological cause”.

The jury heard that Martin, from South Norwood, collected weapons in his flat, including crossbows and pistols, although he was cleared of collecting them for the purposes of terrorism.

‘It will be a war’

Martin maintained during his trial that his two crossbows were “purely for sport” and that two pistols were the kind “commonly used in fairgrounds”.

During the proceedings the 10-member jury was shown messages he had posted on the Telegram online chat group.

In December 2020, the defendant wrote: “It is a war you better get ready to smash skulls and destroy evil.”

Martin also called for attacks on 5G and CCTV, saying that if groups hit key infrastructure across the country “they be running around like flies”.

The Old Bailey heard that he posted: “If we do lawful reb (rebellion), we need lots of us.”

He added: “And plenty Alpha men and women… it will be a war, and the police will do everything to stop us.”

Later he told the group, to which he posted thousands of messages: “You do know if it kicks off lives will be lost on both sides. That’s the reality.”

In one post, Martin wrote: “The simple fact is there is no pandemic, never has been. The main goal was to genocide all they can and enslave the survivors and make the children sterile with poison.”

He also wrote: “Vaccine is a poison designed to kill you off over a short period.”

‘Down a rabbit hole’

While giving evidence, he was questioned about his beliefs during the pandemic. He claimed he had feared that people would be forced to have the Covid vaccine.

“I thought we would lose our privilege of consent, that we’d be forced to have it,” he told defence counsel Dominic Thomas.

“That gave me scary thoughts.

“What I see on the news, drag them out of the houses, jab them, all this.”

The defendant suggested that he had “fallen down a rabbit hole” during the pandemic and denied he had ever intended to commit any violent acts himself.

Giving evidence to the court, he said he was “just talking twaddle”, and was writing things down as he thought them.

Martin pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a stun gun at the beginning of his trial but denied the terrorism charges.

Judge Richard Marks KC bailed him for sentencing on 18 December. He was told to expect a custodial sentence.

BBC News

Neo-Nazi jailed for having gunpowder recipe

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October 20, 2025
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A neo-Nazi paedophile who was jailed 17 years ago for a nail bomb plot has received another prison sentence after admitting owning a gunpowder manual.

Martyn Gilleard, 49, of Town Street in Armley, Leeds, pleaded guilty in June to a single count of having material likely to be of use to a terrorist.

At Leeds Crown Court on Monday, he was jailed for seven years and nine months, and will be subject to a five-year Serious Crime Prevention Order plus terrorism notification requirements for 10 years.

Gilleard was jailed for 12 years in 2008 for hatching a nail bomb plot and for having indecent images of children, and was released in 2023.

The gunpowder recipe was found at Gilleard’s home address during a West Yorkshire Police intelligence search on 28 May and was passed to counter-terror police for further investigation.

Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said officers were concerned by the discovery of “the handwritten recipe for black powder […] later verified by experts as potentially viable”.

He said someone having information about explosives manufacture would “always raise serious questions”.

“Gilleard has chosen not to explain or defend the presence of the recipe in his home, instead pleading guilty to possessing information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism,” he said.

At his trial in 2008 the court heard that Humberside Police searched the Goole home of Gilleard, a former forklift truck driver who was also using the name Martyn Stone.

They found four nail bombs, bladed weapons, bullets, documents about terrorism, and extreme right-wing literature.

Police also discovered about 39,000 indecent images of children, including film and photographs.
BBC News

Leeds man jailed after handwritten note containing gun powder recipe found

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October 20, 2025
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A Leeds man has been jailed after he kept a handwritten gun powder recipe.

Martyn Paul Gilleard, 49, of Town Street in Armley was jailed for three years and nine months and made the subject of an extended licence period for four years following the conviction. A judge also said he will be subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order for five years and terrorism notification requirements for ten years.

Gilleard admitted one charge of possessing information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, contrary to Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The document was recovered from his home address during an intelligence led search by West Yorkshire Police on May 28, this year and passed to Counter Terrorism Policing North East for further investigation.

He entered a guilty plea when he appeared at the Old Bailey in June. Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Officers were concerned to discover a handwritten recipe for black powder during a search at Gilleard’s home in May; a recipe later verified by experts as potentially viable.

“Possessing information about the manufacture of explosives will always raise serious questions. Gilleard has chosen not to explain or defend the presence of the recipe in his home, instead pleading guilty to possessing information useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

Leeds Live

Fourth man jailed for violent disorder outside hotel housing asylum seekers

By
October 17, 2025
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Police said the 28-year-old acted in an ‘intimidating way, encouraging other people there to face off against our officers’.



A fourth man has been jailed for violent disorder following demonstrations outside a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Essex Police said Aaron Elles attended a protest outside The Bell Hotel in Epping wearing motorbike clothing, including a crash helmet to conceal his identity on July 17.

The force said the 28-year-old, of Harlow, acted in an “intimidating way, encouraging other people there to face off against our officers”.

He also “kicked an officer which led to other people pushing, shoving, and striking other officers”, police said.

Elles pleaded guilty to violent disorder at an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court.

He later indicated an intention to vacate his plea and a judge set a trial date next year alongside other defendants, but this was not pursued and he was sentenced on Thursday, Essex Police said.

The force said Elles was jailed at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday for one year and eight months.

Multiple demonstrations have been held outside The Bell Hotel after asylum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu sexually assaulted a woman and a 14-year-old girl in the town.

The 38-year-old Ethiopian national, who arrived in the UK on a small boat days before the incidents in July, was jailed for 12 months at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last month.

Officers, who arrested Elles at his home address on July 23, also found a small amount of cannabis in his motorbike jacket.

He also admitted possession of a Class B drug.

Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said: “Elles is now the fourth person be sentenced for the actions on the evening of July 17.

“This was an evening in which officers had been trying their utmost to facilitate protest and counter-protest, which is our lawful duty.

“Elles was among a section of people in the crowd who were intent on escalating what had begun as a peaceful protest into violence.”

Three men, Martin Peagram, Dean Smith and Stuart Williams, were each given jail sentences on October 6, having pleaded guilty to violent disorder at earlier hearings.

Peagram, 33, of Loughton, was jailed for two years and two months; Smith, 51, of Epping, for one year and 10 months; and Williams, 36, of Thornwood, Epping, for two years and four months.

Four more men are due to stand trial for violent disorder from March 23 next year, with a further three to stand trial from June 1 at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Evening Standard

Far-right extremists jailed for terror plots

By
October 17, 2025
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Three Nazi-worshipping extremists convicted of terror offences have been jailed.

Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were found guilty in May of planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues.

Stewart, from West Yorkshire, was jailed for 11 years, Ringrose, from Staffordshire, was jailed for 10 years, and Pitzettu, from Derbyshire, will serve eight years.

Sentencing them at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday, Mrs Justice Cutts said she believed they all continued to adhere to their extreme right-wing ideology.

The judge outlined how the online group the trio belonged to was preparing for an attack on an Islamic education centre in Leeds before they were arrested by counter-terror police.

During their trial it emerged the men, who are not believed to have met in the real world before appearing in court, were preparing to use more than 200 weapons they had amassed, including machetes, swords, crossbows and an illegal stun gun.

Ringrose had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said the three defendants were “followers of an extreme right-wing Nazi ideology” and styled themselves as an armed military group.

Mr Sandiford said by 2024 they were seeking further recruits and hoping to acquire more deadly weapons.

He said by January and February they were planning their first attack and had identified a target in Leeds, harbouring an “intention to commit acts of extremism which involved killing multiple victims”.

The three men were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their online group.

A jury had rejected arguments the defendants were fantasists with no intention of carrying out their threats and found all three guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.

Counter-terror police said the self-styled “militant” online group provided an “echo chamber of extreme right-wing views where they shared horrific racial slurs, glorified mass murderers and encouraged violence against anyone deemed an enemy”.

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley said they were a group who “espoused vile racist views and advocated for violence, all to support their extreme right-wing mindset”.

“Some of their defence in court was that it was all fantasy or just part of harmless chat, however all three took real-world steps to plan and prepare for carrying out an attack on innocent citizens.”

He said it had been a complex case involving multiple police forces.

Bethan David, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Counter Terrorism Division, said the men plotted “violent acts of terrorism”.

“By their own admission, they were inspired by SS tactics and supremacist ideology.

“The prosecution case against the defendants included their disturbing Telegram and Facebook chats as well as acquiring military equipment such as riot shields, body armour and an arsenal of weapons found at their home addresses that were to be used in readiness for a ‘race war’.”

In her sentencing, Mrs Justice Cutts said she believed the defendants would be dangerous on their release from jail and gave all three extended sentences, with additional licence periods of eight years for Stewart and five years each for Ringrose and Pitzettu.

She said the trio’s ideology was “laid bare” in a 374-page dossier of internet activity put before the jury.

“These pages were filled with hate towards black and other non-white races, especially Muslim people and immigrants, with ideas of white supremacy and racial purity together with a belief that there must soon be a race war.”

This was coupled, she said, with the “glorification and admiration of the policies and actions of Hitler and the German Nazi Party, including antisemitism, and of mass killers who had targeted black or Muslim communities”.

The nine-week-long trial heard how the defendants formed an online group called Einsatz 14 in January 2024, with “like-minded extremists” who wanted to “go to war for their chosen cause”.

The jury was shown a short video Stewart posted of himself wearing a German army helmet, a Nazi armband and a skull face covering.

Prosecutors explained how Stewart discussed torturing a Muslim leader using his “information extraction kit” with an undercover officer.

Stewart called himself “Fuhrer” of the Einsatz 14 group and appointed an undercover officer called Blackheart as the “Obergruppenfuhrer”, which the other two defendants also joined.

Potential recruits were sent a vetting form and Stewart also developed a mission statement for the group which said its “basic duties” included to “target mosques, Islamic education centres and other similar locations”.

And he sent Blackheart details of the Islamic education centre on Mexborough Road in Leeds, including a Google Maps image.

The officer asked Stewart for more detailed information about the plan and he replied that they could smash windows or ambush someone, the court heard.

All three men will be subject to a Serious Crime Prevention Order for five years on release and to Terrorism Notification Requirements for 30 years.

BBC News

Extremists planned ‘escalating’ attacks – court

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October 16, 2025
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Three Nazi-worshipping extremists convicted of terror offences were planning the first of a number of “escalating” attacks when they were arrested, a court has heard.

Christopher Ringrose, 34, Marco Pitzettu, 25, and Brogan Stewart, 25, were found guilty in May of planning terrorist attacks on mosques and synagogues.

In the first of a two-day sentencing hearing at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday, prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said the three defendants “justified, encouraged and glorified serious violence”.

Stewart, from West Yorkshire, Ringrose, from Staffordshire, and Pitzettu, from Derbyshire, will be sentenced on Friday.

In May a jury found them guilty of a charge of preparing acts of terrorism and charges of collecting information likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

Ringrose was also convicted of manufacturing a prohibited weapon.

The court previously heard how the trio, who are not believed to have met in the real world before they appeared together in the dock, idolised Hitler and the Nazis, shared racist slurs and glorified mass murderers.

They were preparing to use more than 200 weapons they had amassed, including machetes, swords, crossbows and an illegal stun gun.

Ringrose had also 3D-printed most of the components of a semi-automatic firearm.

Mr Sandiford said the three defendants were “followers of an extreme right-wing Nazi ideology” and styled themselves as an armed military group.

He said: “They justified, encouraged and glorified serious violence against and killing of persons of other races (who were) effectively seen as inferior and unworthy of human dignity or indeed life.

“On more than one occasion each of the defendants expressed hatred for and desire and willingness to engage in serious violence against people they perceived as enemies of their cause.”

Mr Sandiford said by 2024 they were seeking further recruits and hoping to acquire more deadly weapons.

The court heard that in January and February they were planning their first attack and had identified a target in Leeds, harbouring an “intention to commit acts of extremism which involved killing multiple victims”.

Mr Sandiford told the court Stewart had a leading role and appointed the other two to their roles as “armourers”, encouraging them to make or acquire firearms or explosives.

‘Pure fantasy’

The three men were arrested when security services believed an attack was imminent after undercover officers infiltrated their online group.

Sultana Tafadar KC, mitigating for Stewart, said many of the chats referred to by the prosecution were “pure fantasy”.

She said the defendant had experienced abuse and neglect as a child and had “unprocessed trauma”.

In mitigation for Pitzettu, the court heard he had shown a positive outlook and attitude in prison, while Ringrose was said to have withdrawn from the group before they were arrested.

BBC News

Man who tried to make gun parts with a 3D printer is found guilty of terrorism offences

By
October 16, 2025
Uncategorized

Polish national Robert Adamski, 29, will be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on November 28

A man has been found guilty of terrorism and firearm offences after he was caught attempting to use a 3D printer to make a sub-machine gun at his home in east London.

Polish national Robert Adamski, 29, was arrested after counter terrorism officers entered his home on Lee Bridge Road and found the printer in the process of making a component, which was later identified as a part needed for a FCG-9 Mk2 firearm.

During the raid, police also recovered a number of items linked to extreme right-wing ideology. Analysis of Adamski’s phone revealed he had shared extremist documents via a Telegram group.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “Our investigation led counter terrorism detectives to find a 3D printer actively in the process of printing out a component part for a semi-automatic firearm.

“The device still needed a number of other parts as well as technical know-how to make it viable. However, the intention to make a lethal weapon was clear.

“This proactive counter terrorism investigation has prevented two potential firearms from falling into the hands of a man who held hateful views towards ethnic minorities in London.

“I want to reassure the public we found no evidence Adamski was planning to use any weapons to target any particular communities or the wider public.

“But this case shows, attempting to create or modify 3D firearms or possessing one, even without the intent to commit harm, is illegal and will bring you to attention of the police and lead to serious criminal consequences.”

Adamski was arrested in the Walthamstow area on July 11.

Counter terrorism officers searched his address and found a number of other parts for the firearm that had already been printed, including a magazine that could hold 25 cartridges.

Detectives found a string of internet searches for 3D-printed guns and how to make them, as well as a payment for a 3D printer which was identified in his credit history in June last year.

Adamski had subsequently saved onto his computer, on July 1, a guide on how to make the FCG-9 Mk2 firearm using a 3D printer.

Adamski was charged with various terrorism and firearms-related offences on July 17.

Following a two-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court, Adamski was found guilty of two counts of possession of a component part of a firearm; possession of a document for terrorist purposes and four counts of of dissemination of terrorist publications.

He will be sentenced at the same court on November 28.

Evening Standard

Blackburn dealer who sold drugs to children jailed

By
October 15, 2025
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A dealer who sold drugs to children and started a sexual online chat with a girl has been jailed.

Justin Cooper, 34, pretended to be 16 years old when talking to the 14-year-old girl online.

The girl told her older sister she was falling in love with him and when she was located at Cooper’s house having gone missing, he was served with a child abduction notice.

When the girl’s sister became suspicious, she posed as a 15-year-old on social media and started talking to Cooper herself.

He invited her for drinks and sent her pictures of sex toys.

He also told her: “I’m a weed dealer, you wouldn’t believe the offers I get.”

Cooper, of Clayton Street, Blackburn, appeared for sentence at Burnley Crown Court alongside three co-defendants charged over drug conspiracy and supply.

The conspiracy to supply cannabis charge related also to David Watson, 58, of Mallard Place, Oswaldtwistle, who acted as a runner for Cooper.

Peter Wilson, prosecuting, said police attended Cooper’s address on August 21 last year due to concerns about him dealing to children.

A 14-year-old boy was found at the house under the influence of cannabis.

Police visited again on October 9 and Cooper was rearrested. During a search, 44.5g of cannabis was recovered with a street value of £510, along with £15,000 snap bags, phones, scales, and a notebook of contacts.

Analysis of the phones showed that flare messages would be sent out on Snapchat showing cannabis for sale, along with pictures, and Watson would then go on to supply the drugs.

On October 10, police attended the address of Paul Sayers, 55, of Dill Hall Lane, Church, and found a cannabis farm in the attic.

Almost 2kg of cannabis plants were recovered from the property. Analysis of Paul Sayers’ phone also found evidence of messages to his brother, Dale Sayers, 62, of Oswald Street, Accrington, who supplied the drugs on a small scale.

Roger Brown, mitigating for Cooper, laid out a number of courses he had completed in prison during his time on remand, which he said “show a determination to repair the damage he has done in the past.”

He also said Cooper had a “fairly appalling upbringing” and that he has a “low likelihood of reoffending.”

Rachel Woods, for Watson, said her client was performing a limited function under direction and had no influence on anybody above him in the chain.

Anna Chestnutt, for Dale Sayers, said her client had used cannabis medicinally for genuine purposes but has desisted in using it “due to learning his lesson.”

She said Sayers “wishes to return to a law-abiding and hard-working life.”

Eleanor Brambell, for Paul Sayers, said he immediately admitted to having the farm and that he was genuinely remorseful.

Recorder Michelle Brown, sentencing, said in respect of Cooper that he had an expectation of “significant financial advantage” and that he supplied to children who were “particularly vulnerable.”

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, and will be subject to sex offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Addressing Cooper, the judge said the custody threshold was crossed but his role was a lesser one.

His 12-month sentence was suspended for 18 months, and he must complete 15 rehabilitation activity days.

Recorder Brown said the custody threshold was not crossed in respect of Paul Sayers and Dale Sayers.

Paul Sayers was given an 18-month community order with 15 rehabilitation days, and Dale Sayers was given a 12-month community order with 15 rehabilitation days.

Lancashire Telegraph

Man jailed for violent protest at asylum hotel

By
October 14, 2025
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A man has been jailed for three years and four months for taking part in a violent protest at a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Jamie Lee Turvey was in a crowd that shouted abuse and hurled objects at Potters International Hotel in Aldershot, Hampshire, in July 2024.

The 35-year-old, of Montgomery Road, Farnborough, was previously found guilty of violent disorder following a trial at Winchester Crown Court.

The incident was part of the rioting that swept across England in the days after the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport.

More than 200 people gathered at the hotel on 31 July, the court previously heard.

A small group entered the car park, kicked footballs against windows, damaged blinds and a perimeter wall, set off flares and threw bicycles into a skip.

Turvey forcefully opened a hotel gate, removed bricks from a wall and approached windows to swear at the hotel residents, police said.

He is the last of eight people – including a 13-year-old girl – to be sentenced over the violence, and has received the longest jail term as the only defendant to plead not guilty.

Assistant Chief Constable Tara McGovern said: “We know that the majority of people who attended this protest in Aldershot were respectful, however Turvey was part of a smaller group that chose to act in an aggressive and intimidating manner.

“This should serve as a warning to anyone else considering trying to bring mindless violence to our streets and that the minority who seek to cause disorder will face the full force of the law.”
BBC News