Sunderland man jailed after ‘thugs with mob mentality’ clashed with police protecting mosque

By
September 2, 2025
Uncategorized

Daniel Kirtley has become the latest person to be jailed after widespread violent disorder broke out in Sunderland last August


A man who was with a group of “thugs with a mob mentality” who clashed with police protecting a mosque has been jailed.

Daniel Kirtley attended Sunderland city centre out of “curiosity” on August 2 last year as a protest turned into a riot which brought shame on the city and left police with a bill of £1.5m.

A court heard Kirtley was identified as participating in the widespread disorder on a series of pieces of footage. This included joining a group who had headed towards a mosque.

While some people squared up to police, Kirtley could be seen standing in front of officers. Michael Bunch, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court the police line tried to advance three times and officers had to push Kirtley back.

Mr Bunch said: “The first two times, he immediately returned to the his position in the line. The third time, he was pulled back by another member of the crowd.

“He could then be seen further down the road, bending down and picking up a missile which he threw towards the police line.” Kirtley, who had been drinking, said he had been with two cousins and headed to the city centre after seeing others heading that way.

Mr Bunch said: “He said he had been talking to the police when an officer used his shield to knock him to the floor. That’s not captured on the footage.

“He said he was angered by that and picked up a brick, which he threw. He said he threw it deliberately high so it didn’t hit anyone. He said he wished he hadn’t done that act.”

In an impact statement, Northumbria Police said they had submitted a claim for £1.5m to the Home Office.

Kirtley, 35, of Lyndhurst Terrace, Sunderland, who has nine previous convictions but nothing since he was a youth, pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He was jailed for 16 months.

A judge asked Mr Bunch if the police were there to protect the mosque. He said that was the intention, although it was not in the “immediate vicinity” and there was no evidence Kirtley was motivated by hostility based on religious beliefs.

He added that officers were concerned the mosque was the “direction of travel given the movement of the people towards that street”. Mr Bunch said: “It was more a matter of concern that was the ultimate aim. There’s nothing to say that this defendant had that in mind.”

Kirtley pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was jailed for 16 months. Recorder Caroline Sellars told him the disorder he joined in was “carried out by thugs with mob mentality” and said a deterrent sentence was necessary.

Jason Smith, defending, said Kirtley’s involvement was “limited”. He told the court he had been sitting with his cousins when he saw lots of people going past and attended the scene out of “curiosity”, having noticed on social media that a protest was taking place.

Mr Smith added: “He stupidly attended because he had been drinking. He is a confirmed alcoholic. He attended to see what the event was all about.

“He deeply regrets that he became involved. He has shown extreme remorse.”

Chronicle Live

Man sentenced for kicking officer at hotel protest

By
September 1, 2025
Uncategorized

A man who kicked a police officer while protesting outside a hotel housing asylum seekers has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Jimmy Hillard, 52, struck the officer with his leg outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, on Friday.

It came hours after a Court of Appeal ruling allowed migrants to continue being housed inside the building.

The carpenter, from Loughton, was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for one year, at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court after admitting assaulting an emergency worker.

He was also ordered to undertake 60 hours of unpaid work and pay the police officer £100 in compensation.

Serena Berry, prosecuting, said Hillard was outside The Bell Hotel at 21:20 BST while a police cordon was in place, and an officer asked him to move.

“This defendant didn’t move,” the prosecutor said, adding an officer then “pushed him away from the officers’ cordon, causing him to fall to the ground”.

“While on the ground he’s kicked out at [the officer],” Ms Berry said, telling the court “no injury was sustained”.

‘Difficult and hostile’

Thousands of people have attended anti-immigration protests and counter-demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel since July.

It followed an asylum seeker housed there being arrested and subsequently charged with several offences including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.

Hadush Kebatu, who is from Ethiopia, denies the offences and has been on trial.

Sentencing Hillard, Judge Christopher Williams said officers had faced “very difficult and hostile” situations at times.

“There’s ongoing disorder surrounding the government’s policy on housing asylum seekers at hotels across the country,” he said.

“The Bell Hotel is at the epicentre of that.”
Protesters marching in a tight group, marshalled by a line of police officers at the front. The protesters are waving England and union jack flags. There are a handful of women and children near the front of the crowd.

Judge Williams said Hillard had been previously sentenced in 2021 for a racially aggravated offence that took place outside the same hotel.

“Given the ongoing disorder at the hotel and across the country, I’ve got to be considering punishment and deterrence,” he added, banning Hillard from the vicinity of the building for six months.

At the same court, Ross Ellis, of Orchard Croft, Harlow, was sentenced for failing to provide a specimen.

Essex Police said a car had been driven towards its officers, on the wrong side of the road, as they maintained a cordon on Friday.

Ellis, 49, was banned from driving for two years and fined £200.

Earlier on Monday, in a separate hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, 23-year-old Charlie Land denied two offences related to events outside The Bell Hotel on 17 July.

The defendant, from Hatfield in Hertfordshire, denied violent disorder and criminally damaging a police van.

He was bailed until a hearing on 22 September.

BBC News

Brent man jailed after police uncover hundreds of indecent child images

By
August 31, 2025
Uncategorized

A man from Kilburn has been jailed for three years and six months after a Met Police investigation found he was distributing indecent images of children and communicating with young victims online.

Simon Hynes, 41, of Douglas Road, Brent, was sentenced at Harrow Crown Court on Wednesday, 30 July. He had earlier pleaded guilty to 20 offences at Southwark Crown Court on 24 April.
The charges included:

Three counts of taking indecent images of children
Three counts of distributing indecent images of children
One count of possession of extreme images
Thirteen counts of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child

The investigation began in December 2022 when officers received reports that Hynes was in possession of indecent images. When he was arrested, police seized several devices, along with knives, a machete and an axe.

Hundreds of indecent images were recovered from his phones, along with chat logs showing that Hynes had been communicating with children as young as eight. He was also found to be encouraging children to sexually abuse their siblings.

Detective Chief Inspector Brian Kelleher, who led the investigation, said: “My thoughts are with those children and families who have been harmed by Hynes’ offending online over a number of years. We will continue working to identify and support survivors of this kind of abuse.

“The Met is working hard to pursue predators, and this sentencing is testament to the investigation team who worked diligently to build a file of evidence and ensure Hynes was not free to cause further harm to children.

“Their commitment has undoubtedly prevented further suffering, and they are a credit to the Met.”

Detective Sergeant Callum Mantell added: “The Met is prioritising violence against women and girls and this case demonstrates our commitment to tackling these offences in all forms, while ensuring those impacted are safeguarded and supported.

“We believe there may be further children impacted and urge anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of Hynes to come forward and speak to officers.”

Police are now working to identify potential victims to ensure they receive support.

Anyone affected is urged to contact police on 101, or 999 in an emergency. Reports can also be made anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Support is available from the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 or at http://www.nspcc.org.uk.

Harrow Online

‘Nazi’ teenager who amassed weapons and discussed school ‘shoot up’ jailed

By
August 29, 2025
Uncategorized

He also admitted having terrorist information relating to manifestos of those who went on to commit acts of terror.

A 15-year-old self-proclaimed “Nazi” who amassed a stash of deadly weapons as he discussed whether to “shoot up” his school has been locked up for a year-and-a-half.

The youth, from near Market Drayton in Shropshire, pleaded guilty to having a butterfly knife, a stun gun, a baton and crossbow at his home, last November.

He also admitted having terrorist information relating to manifestos of those who went on to commit acts of terror.

The court heard how the teenager, who has autism, was obsessed with mass attacks and expressed a desire to carry out his own copycat killings, as he acquired the hoard of weapons.

After police had first raided his home, he had chatted online about whether to “shoot up my school” with a modified air pistol, the court was told.

The defendant had also attempted to make “cricket bombs” without success and, while on police bail, download a manual on how to make napalm and a self-loading pistol.

Prosecutor James Bruce told the court on Friday: “It is clear (the boy’s) own words do demonstrate a motivation that is racial and ideological and steeped in far-right ideology.”

Although violence was never far from his mind, the defendant lacked the means to act on his thoughts, Mr Bruce said.

Defence barrister Dominic Thomas said the boy’s violent plans were all “fantasy” and a “kind of self care” to deal with bullying at school and isolation in the pandemic.

He said the defendant’s parents, sitting in court, had struggled to bring him up and had for years asked for help, which was not provided.

On Friday, the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to 18 months in custody with a further year on licence.

Judge Rebecca Trowler KC told him: “You plainly had terrorist motivations both racial and ideological.

“While you have stated that you were in effect pretending to want to carry out a violent attack and that you did so to provide some kind of solace and you would never cross that line, I cannot accept that at face value.

“I am satisfied on all the evidence taken together including your own notes, messages and opinions that there was a real risk that you would carry out an attack and cause actual harm.

“However, I am not satisfied that the risk of harm was very likely. There is no evidence of you wanting to take matters any further outside of your home. Indeed you were living an isolated life and dependent on others to get about.”

West Mercia Police first visited the boy’s home early last November and found him “unkempt” and living in an annexe of his parents’ property.

A “large array of weapons” were seized, including four crossbows with bolts, six air weapons, a red Samurai sword, six knives, and a stun gun in a tactical vest bearing a far-right symbol.

An examination of his electronic devices showed he had practised with the Samurai sword and had fired one of the crossbows into a coconut.

Two days after the police raid, the defendant searched the internet for whether a crossbow could “kill a human”.

And within days, his mother bought him a crossbow “pistol” with a 50lb draw weight, the court heard.

When police returned two weeks later, officers seized new weapons, including the crossbow.

In a police interview, the youth explained his computer activity by saying he had an interest in history and had a “black sense of humour”.

He was released on bail on condition he had no unsupervised internet access and did not buy any more weapons.

It was agreed with the local authority that he would move back into his parents’ main house and he was referred to the Prevent deradicalisation programme and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

But when police went back to carry out a bail check on January 22, they found him still living in the annexe and had a new internet device bought for him by his mother.

He had used it to log into chats about crossbows, so-called Islamic State beheading videos, and discussions about school shootings, the court was told.

He was subsequently remanded into Feltham Young Offenders Institution where, in March, officers found and confiscated a homemade weapon.

A further examination of his electronic devices revealed his fascination with weapons, death and killing dated back to 2023.

In a WhatsApp chat with a girl, he spoke of wanting to carry out a mass shooting and die at the end of it, saying “voices” were telling him to kill.

He said: “I wanna kill so badly, watching pathetic maggots die arouses me.”

He wrote that April 20 – Adolf Hitler’s birthday – was to be his “death day”, and said that he would “kill lots of people” with a “taser, knife, and much more”.

He named three schools including on the Isle of Wight, although there was no evidence he had ever been there.

Mr Bruce noted the “death day” the defendant identified came and went without incident.

Police also uncovered a video of the defendant displaying a crossbow and flag.

In the footage, he said: “Embarrassed ‘cus I’m a Nazi, look I’ve got my crossbow for killing Jews, ha ha, I’m a Nazi.”.

Another video showed the defendant practising thrusting a knife, saying: “It’s an illegal knife. My knife is meant for murder, I know how to use it.”

The court heard the defendant had marked his weapons with the names of infamous bombers and gunmen, as well as the words “born to kill”.

Mr Bruce said careful consideration was made by the Crown on whether to charge the defendant with preparation of terrorist acts but it was decided that would not be in the public interest.

Defence barrister Mr Thomas accepted there were “several expressions of intended violence” but said the defendant “never crossed the line” from fantasy into action.

Judge Trowler handed the defendant a three-year criminal behaviour order and imposed a 12-month parenting order to provide his mother and father with training and advice.

West Mercia Police Chief Superintendent Mo Lansdale said parents and carers should speak to children about their online activities and know what material they could be accessing.

She said: “Ultimately, I think what’s really led to this extreme behaviour is the amount of content that he’s been viewing online and what, unfortunately, he’s been able to access.

“The viewing of manifestos, school massacres, is obviously truly shocking, and unfortunately that content is ever-growing, and it’s an ever-evolving threat that we’re having to deal with.”

Evening Standard

Racist lyrics in family’s neo-Nazi music ‘not to be taken literally’, court told

By
August 28, 2025
Uncategorized

A father and his two children who were found guilty of racial hatred offences after performing neo-Nazi songs at a gig “did not mean for their lyrics to be taken literally”, a court has heard.

Robert Talland, 59, organised a gig at the Corpus Christi Club in Leeds on September 21 2019 at which his son Stephen, 36, and his daughter Rosie, 33, performed songs that incited racial hatred.

Talland managed his children’s band, Embers of an Empire, and was a leading figure of the “Blood & Honour” neo-Nazi network which promoted their ideology through music festivals and the sale of merchandise for “white power” rock bands, counter terrorism police said.

He also ran a record label, Rampage Productions, which distributed CDs by neo-Nazi groups.

The albums encouraged right-wing terrorism with songs calling for people to “join the fight against race mixers”, to “let the blood flow” and “smash heads in”, prosecutor Thomas Williams told a sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court.

Members of the audience at the 2019 gig were captured on CCTV making Nazi salutes to lyrics that said “Hope you’re ready to die”, “Won’t stop until the last one hits the floor”, and “We’ll send them back in a box”.

Mark Gadsden, defending Robert, said: “The lyrics were metaphorical and not meant to be taken literally.

“It is the case that nobody has acted on that music and go on to commit acts of violence.”

Talland and his children were all convicted of conspiracy to incite racial hatred following a nine-week trial at the same court earlier this year.

Additionally, Rosie and Stephen were convicted of inciting racial hatred.

Robert was also found guilty of one offence of possessing racially inflammatory material and two further counts of disseminating terrorist publications.

Robert, Stephen, and Rosie Talland were arrested on October 1, 2020, after a year-long investigation by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North East.

A search of Talland’s home found hundreds of CDs distributed under his record label, as well as Blood Honour merchandise and banners “covered in neo-Nazi imagery”, the force said.

Blood & Honour was founded in 1987 by the late Ian Stuart Donaldson, frontman of the white power band Skrewdriver.

The group promotes racist, antisemitic, anti-Communist and anti-LGBT violence, and was hit with a UK asset-freezing order in January this year over suspected terror links.

Judge Andrew Lees adjourned the sentencing until September 11.

LBC

Man who wore balaclava and carried fake weapon is jailed

By
August 22, 2025
Uncategorized

A JUDGE has jailed a man who wore a balaclava and carried a fake weapon, forcing a mosque to go into lockdown.

Police received multiple 999 calls over more than an hour on April 19 this year when Scott Hodgson was seen wandering around a park and a busy road in Halifax with what some people believed to be a gun.

Bradford Crown Court heard that Hodgson had previously claimed to have made a bomb.

The 47-year-old, of Union Street South, Halifax, is now beginning a 12-month prison sentence in HMP Leeds after a jury found him guilty after a trial of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

Mr Recorder Alistair MacDonald KC said there were “great similarities” between the bomb hoax and the fake gun.

He said: “In both cases you wanted to cause fear and distress to other people, and you were essentially showing off by, on the one hand, suggesting that you were making bombs, and on the other hand suggesting that you had a rifle in your possession.”

The court heard that Hodgson was captured on CCTV taken from People’s Park and nearby housing with “innocuous” rods or poles which, when put together, were described by Recorder MacDonald as “very, very like a rifle”.

He added: “This was an offence committed in public places, and the degree of consternation that you caused is shown by the fact that four 999 calls were received by the police … reporting your activities.

“A call was made by a member of the public at 10.06am. The final call was made at 11.13am.

“So this spanned well over an hour.

“In addition, a call was made by a staff member at the mosque in Halifax.”

The mosque also sent out a message at 10.29am warning people of a man in the area wearing a balaclava “with a backpack and a gun”.

All mosque doors and gates were locked as a precaution. The police were called and began searching the area.

Worshippers were urged to stay indoors and to dial 999 if they saw anything suspicious.

Recorder MacDonald said: “That demonstrates to me the degree of fear and problems that you caused to the community by what you were thinking of, you said, as humorous activities.

“They weren’t. People took this very, very seriously.

“In the end, the rods constituted just imitations of a rifle, and in fact no serious harm was done to anyone as a result.”

The court heard that Hodgson’s “wide-ranging” criminal record included convictions for violence and harassment.

He was also sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for making the bomb hoax in February 2023.

Recorder MacDonald said there was “a real risk of public disorder” as a result of Hodgson’s actions as demonstrated by the lockdown at the mosque and community concerns.

He said the minimum sentence that he was able to impose was 12 months’ imprisonment.

Telegraph and Argus

Sunderland racist thug attacked shop owner and friend who was ‘beaten like a slave’

By
August 22, 2025
Uncategorized

Kai Lucas subjected the owner of a vape store in Sunderland and his friend to a disgraceful attack as they unloaded stock

A racist thug subjected a shop owner and his friend to a sickening attack which left one of them feeling he had been “beaten like a slave”.

Kai Lucas had been released on licence from a jail sentence for robbery when he was put in a bail hostel next to a vape shop in Sunderland.

As the shop owner was unloading stock with the help of his friend, Lucas and a group of other men were hanging around. Newcastle Crown Court heard Lucas approached them, accused them of being “illegal” and launched a shocking sustained attack which left both men needing hospital treatment.

It was on October 14 last year around 5pm that the two victims were going about their lawful business when the appalling scenes unfolded. Lucas walked up to the victims and shouted “You’re illegal, you’re doing illegal things.” When one of the men told him he owned the shop and asked how he was doing anything illegal, Lucas responded: “I’m a North East lad. This is my country, go back to your country”.

When told by the second man he was wrong, Lucas punched him to the face. As he bent over in pain, he was hit a further eight or nine times by the thug.

The shop owner, who had been on the phone to police, tried to protect his friend and shouted “stop”. Lucas then turned to the shop owner and began to hit him hard multiple times as he tried to cover his face. He said every blow was causing him pain and he was terrified

He ended up being knocked to the ground and his phone was knocked from his hand. The other men was then struck again as he turned away.

Lucas then turned back to the shop owner, who was now sitting on the ground, and pushed his face and threw something at him which hit him..

A member of the public intervened and Lucas walked back towards the group he had been with. He then raised a fist and shouted “This is my country, go back to your country”.

The shop owner was continuing to try to speak to police and Lucas then turned his attention back to him, shouting something at him and punching him hard in the face again, causing him to fall back and hit his head on a wall and the path, knocking him unconscious.

Both victims had to attend hospital for their injuries. The first victim suffered bruising and the second man had a cut to his head and hands and bruising.

The shop owner said in a statement: “Initially I was scared he would come back. Since then I’ve learned he lived at a bail hostel next to my shop. One resident said we had disrespected the male who assaulted me. I’m scared to confront abusive customers or shoplifters in case they do what he did.”

His friend said: “Things like this have never happened in my life before. I’m scared to go back to the shop, I’m scared to help my friend.

“This was a totally unexpected and an unprovoked attack. I feel like I was beaten like a slave.

“I was unable to eat for two days because of the pain. I believe this assault was purely based on my race, because I’m a different colour of skin.”

Lucas, 27, who has 51 previous convictions and had been released on licence from a 57 month sentence for robbery imposed in September 2023, pleaded guilty to two counts of racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was jailed for 28 months but this will run concurrent to his recall to prison on licence until January 2027, meaning he will serve no extra time.

Chronicle

Rioter told off for laughing as he’s jailed for ‘bringing shame’ on England flag and Sunderland

By
August 22, 2025
Uncategorized

Stuart Polley, of Washington, has been jailed for three years and four months for taking part in a riot in Sunderland city centre last August

A rioter who “brought shame” on an England flag and Sunderland was reprimanded for laughing as he was jailed.

Stuart Polley was caught on camera participating in widespread disorder while wearing a pink shirt with a St George’s flag draped over his shoulders.

A court heard his criminality involved throwing a piece of metal fencing towards a police van and breaking up a wooden bench to produce further missiles. As the wider facts of what happened in Sunderland city centre on August 2 last year were outlined by prosecutors, Polley was told off by Judge Amanda Rippon near the start of the hearing at Newcastle Crown Court for his reaction in the dock.

She told his barrister: “I’m going to give you a couple of minutes to read the riot act to your client, who’s laughing and seems to think it’s funny. If I come back and he is anything other than a statue in the dock I will read him the riot act, and I use that term quite deliberately and any person in the public gallery who he is engaging with, I will remove.”

Laura Miller, defending, later explained that Polley had not expected the wider facts of what happened to be outlined as he was not directly responsible for those. She said his reaction was shock rather than amusement.

Neil Pallister, prosecuting, told the court of Polley’s involvement: “The defendant was identified as an individual who participated in acts of disorder. He was captured in a series of pieces of footage.

“He was first seen on camera drinking and milling around with others on Keel Square. He has an England flag on his shoulders.

“As disorder breaks out, he was seen near the Empire theatre at the front of a crowd who were confronting officers in protective equipment. He and others were seen pushing a picnic table towards a police van.

“The defendant returned to the same vehicle a short time later. He was dragging a piece of metal fencing and throwing it towards the vehicle. Not content to leave matters there, he was seen to break up a wooden bench, no doubt to obtain further missiles.”

When he was interviewed, he said he attended to show support for the protest and had three or four pints beforehand. He admitted being in the crowd but but said he played no part in the violent acts.

When shown the CCTV of what he had done, he said he had no memory of doing it.

Polley has four previous convictions, including an arson attack for which he was jailed in 2018 after setting fire to a house in revenge, blaming the absent occupier for the death of his cousin.

For the latest offence, he pleaded guilty to riot and was jailed for three years and eight months. Judge Rippon told him: “You were present at what was a planned event and mirroring what had occurred in other cities and towns over a few days you, together with others, brought shame on Sunderland. For no justifiable reason whatsoever, you and others gathered in the city to participate in an orgy of mindless destruction, violence and disorder.

“Your pink shirt was readily identifiable in footage, over which you draped an England flag, which you wore as you rioted and brought shame on that flag.”

Laura Miller, defending, said Polley is remorseful for what he did. She added: “He has expressed that he is ashamed of his actions. He called his behaviour on the footage absolutely ridiculous.”

She added that those close to him say he is kind, caring and compassionate and a good role model.

Chronicle Live

Teenager who planned mosque attack in Scotland detained for 10 years

By
August 21, 2025
Uncategorized

Boy, 17, had intended to set fire to Islamic centre in Greenock, Inverclyde, after befriending imam

A teenager who listed Hitler, Mussolini and the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik as his inspirations and who planned a terrorist attack on a mosque has been sentenced to 10 years in custody.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named because of his age, had intended to set fire to an Islamic centre in Greenock, Inverclyde, after befriending the imam and mapping out the building’s interior on his phone.

The teenager was arrested at the door of the centre in January this year. He was carrying a military-style rucksack that contained a German-manufactured Glock-type air pistol, ammunition, ball bearings, gas cartridges and aerosol cans, according to prosecutors.

He was sentenced at the high court in Glasgow on Thursday after pleading guilty to two terrorism charges, with a further eight years of supervision on licence upon release.

In his sentencing statement, Lord Arthurson said: “What you had in mind was what can properly be characterised as a quite diabolical atrocity involving extreme violence and multiple deaths. You even requested that your attack be livestreamed. Your conduct was only stopped by your arrest, when you were quite literally at the very door of the centre.”

Prosecutors said the teenager, who became radicalised online, began plotting the attack in December 2024 and joined the mosque’s WhatsApp group saying he was “looking for guidance”, later winning the trust of the imam during several visits.

Meanwhile he was boasting of his plans to set the centre on fire on the social medial platform Telegram and later filmed himself wandering the corridors, including footage showing him superimposing a hand carrying a semi-automatic pistol.

Sineidin Corrins, deputy procurator fiscal for specialist casework at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “This heinous plan to attack those within his own local community was prepared and driven by racial and religiously motivated hatred, and showed that he not only held neo-Nazi beliefs but was about to act on them to cause pain and suffering”.

The Guardian

The faces of the men in court accused over incidents during Epping Bell Hotel protests

By
August 19, 2025
Uncategorized

Two men have admitted violent disorder and have been told they are likely to face jail time

Two men who took part in a demonstration outside a hotel housing asylum seekers have been warned they are likely to be jailed.

Supermarket worker Dean Smith along with Stuart Williams were two of several men to have appeared in court charged with violent disorder following protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping.

Protests began after a migrant who was housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. A series of separate hearings took place at Chelmsford Crown Court today involving people alleged to have gone to the area during protests last month.

Smith, 51, of Epping, pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder said to have happened on July 17. Judge Jamie Sawyer remanded Smith in custody until October 6 when he will be sentenced at the same court, and he warned the sentence would “likely” be one of immediate custody.

Barrister Christopher Martin, for Smith, told the court Smith “lives with his mother and is her carer” and “still works full-time for a supermarket where he’s worked full-time for the last seven years”.

Additionally, Williams, 36, of Duck Lane, Thornwood, Epping, pleaded guilty to a single charge of violent disorder. No information on his alleged actions were shared during the short hearing. Williams will now be remanded in custody ahead of his sentence with the other defendants who have pled guilty on October 6 in the same court.

Judge Sawyer has authorised a pre sentence report for Williams, but warned him he faces jail. He said: “The only likelihood is an immediate prison sentence, but give the benefit of the doubt for that pre-sentence report. You will be back before this court for sentence with the other defendants who have pleaded guilty in this case. You will be remanded in custody.”

Lee Gower, 43, of Epping, pleaded not guilty to violent disorder and he also denied assaulting a police officer on July 17. Gower was remanded in custody until a further case management hearing on September 22.

Shaun Thompson, 37, of Epping, who is alleged to have punched a police car, pleaded not guilty to violent disorder on July 17 and was bailed until a further case management hearing on September 22.

Jonathan Glover, 47, of Waltham Abbey, was not asked to enter a plea to a charge of violent disorder alleged to have happened on July 17. Glover was bailed until September 22, when an application to dismiss his case is due to be heard.

Keith Silk, 33, of Loughton, pleaded not guilty to violent disorder on July 17. Silk also denied criminal damage, having been accused of damaging a sign belonging to the Bell Hotel, and was bailed until a further case management hearing on September 22.

Barrister Richard Reynolds, for defendant Aaron Elles, 28, of Harlow, said Elles wanted to make an application to vacate his guilty plea to a charge of violent disorder, entered at an earlier magistrates’ court hearing. Elles was remanded in custody until a further case management hearing on September 22.

Essex Live