A rioter who threw bricks at police and a man who filmed disorder and tried to intervene in the arrest of a protestor have been jailed.
Liam Doeg and Ian Kirtley, both from Sunderland, were involved in multiple incidents after anti-immigration protests turned violent in the city on 2 August, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Doeg, 33, repeatedly attacked police and looted a vape shop. Kirtley, 36, was part of a group that tried to attack a mosque and encouraged people to attack officers as he filmed them on his phone.
Doeg, who admitted rioting and burglary, was jailed for three years and eight months and Kirtley, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder, for one year and nine months.
Violence erupted across Sunderland City Centre at about 16:00 BST after protestors gathered in the wake of the killing of three young girls in Southport, prosecutor Omar Ahmad said.
Four police officers required hospital treatment, shops were looted, windows were smashed, a Citizens Advice office was set on fire and a neighbouring police station was “ransacked”, the court heard
Doeg, of Poplar House in Sunderland, was “at the front” of a crowd throwing bricks at a line of police officers in Keel Square at about 19:30 BST and about an hour later was part of a group that sprayed police with a fire extinguisher and hurled multiple missiles, the court heard.
He also pushed a wheelie bin at police, threw a parasol and helped a group thrust a picnic bench at officers, Mr Ahmad said.
At about 21:30 BST he entered a vape shop which had already been looted and stole multiple products from a smashed cabinet, the court was told.
Kirtley, of Hylton Road in Sunderland, was draped in an England flag when he was part of a group that went to attack a mosque in St Mark’s Road but they were thwarted by a line of officers, Mr Ahmad said.
‘Ferocious attacks’
A short while later he intervened in the arrest of man on Hylton Road, pulling him free so he could escape from a horse-mounted police officer, the court heard.
Later Kirtley filmed people throwing stolen beer kegs at police and indicated a bin to protestors to be used as a weapon.
After being arrested, Kirtley claimed he had gone simply to “wave a flag” and was pointing to the bin to tell people not to use it.
In a statement read to the court, Northumbria Police Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine said the riot had been “appalling” with officers “ferociously” attacked.
She said the force had requested more than £1.5m from the Home Office to help pay for police operations in the aftermath.
‘Brought shame’
In mitigation for Doeg, the court heard he was drunk at the time and had a history of alcohol addiction.
The court was also told he was sorry for his actions.
Kirtley, meanwhile, was “vulnerable and easily influenced by others,” his barrister said.
Judge Tim Gittins said Doeg, Kirtley and others had brought shame on Sunderland, having gathered in large numbers for “no justifiable reason whatsoever”.
He said they carried out an “orgy of mindless destruction” including “serious acts of violence towards person and property”.
Judge Gittins said Kirtley had also brought “equal shame” to the England flag he carried through part of the disorder.
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