Another rioter jailed for 32 months
Following the sentencing of two men in Liverpool for their part in what the judge called “an utterly lawless mob” there, PA reports that another man has been jailed for 32 months for violent disorder during riots in Plymouth on Monday.
PA reports:
Michael Williams, 51, of Sparkwell, Devon, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of violent disorder relating to Monday’s incident.
Judge Robert Linford, sentencing Williams and a second defendant at Plymouth crown court on Thursday, said that “thugs like you … ran amok”.
He said Williams was “seen to be fighting and kicking another male” and when he was arrested he was found with a stone in his jogging bottoms.
The judge dismissed as “ludicrous” Williams’s claim that it was a “healing stone”.In video footage played to the court, Williams chanted “Allah, Allah, who the f*** is Allah” after his arrest, and repeatedly swore at police.
Edward Bailey, for Williams, said that the defendant “didn’t set out on this particular evening with the intention of violence” and “had been drinking earlier that day”.
Key events
Man jailed 18 months for violent disorder after attending anti-fascist protest
A 29-year-old man who attended a protest against fascism in Plymouth has been jailed for 18 months after throwing missiles and swinging his motorbike helmet to knock a boy off his bike.
Lucas Ormond Skeaping, 29, of Tavistock admitted a charge of violent disorder.
The defendant’s legal team said Skeaping was “against fascism”, “abhors any form of racism” and had lost his employment at a bicycle company as a result of the incident.
The prosecution said the man’s own GoPro camera had captured him throwing a full 500ml bottle of Coca-Cola and a rock.
PA Media reports Judge Robert Linford, sentencing, said “you came to protest and to do so peacefully, but things rapidly deteriorated”.
Police in Nottingham said they made no arrests during a protest held just outside the city centre on Wednesday evening. PA Media reports Nottinghamshire police said patrols will continue in the city over the weekend, but confirmed they were not acting on specific intelligence.
Speaking in Northern Ireland, the DUP’s deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly said no one has “justified” the racist violence and disorder.
“In fact,” she said, “the absolute opposite. We are standing here collectively as the Northern Ireland Executive making it clear that all of those are unacceptable.”
Little-Pengelly continued:
Of course people have concerns. I have no doubt that those are very genuinely held concerns in relation to access to public services, access to affordable housing.
We in the Executive are acutely aware of that, and our message to those people are very much, we are here to listen to you. We will hear the concerns that you have.
We will move forward to try to address those concerns. But those concerns are for the Northern Ireland Government, for the UK Government, in terms of resourcing. It is for the democratic process to work through.
Violence is never the answer. Violence is always wrong. That is the clear message. We’re standing here today firmly against violence, disorder and racism and there’s no ifs or buts about that.
Little-Pengelly spoke in a joint press conference with Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, as well as PSNI Chief constable Jon Boucher and Alliance party leader Naomi Long.
Labour councillor suspended after video of him saying rioters’ throats should be cut appears online
A Labour councillor has been suspended from the party after footage emerged of him online in which he said the throats of rioters should be cut.
PA Media reports Ricky Jones, a Dartford Borough councillor, appeared in a video circulated online saying “we need to cut all their throats and get rid of them all” at a counter-demonstration to recent riots.
A Labour party spokesperson said: “This behaviour is completely unacceptable and it will not be tolerated. The councillor has been suspended from the party.”
PA Media reports it is understood Mr Jones has been administratively suspended from the party, and the whip has been removed.
Among those to have shared the video online was Reform UK leader and Clacton MP Nigel Farage, who accompanied it with the caption “This man should be arrested. If not, we know there is two-tier policing.”
The Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire, Rupert Matthews, has appeared on GB News, and said there is “no two-tier policing in Leicestershire and Rutland”. He said:
It’s not just the far-right that have been causing unrest recently. Previously we had trouble after the incident at the airport, we had trouble in Leeds and so on. So what worries me is there seems to be a readiness amongst people to go out on the streets, cause trouble, smash up property and attack the police.
That’s absolutely unacceptable, whatever the reason for doing it and I think the priority now has got to be to stop the civic unrest, to stop the public disorder taking place.
Peaceful protests are fine. I’ve taken part in them myself. Violent protests, it doesn’t matter what your cause is.
In contrast to most senior Conservative figures, who have been broadly supportive of the government’s stance over the violent disorder of recent days, Matthews singled out Labour for criticism. He told viewers:
I think it has been unfortunate that some of the members of the Labour party, including ministers, have made some comments, which perhaps would indicate that they might take a more lenient attitude, depending on what the cause is that people are protesting about.
Matthews’ published books include titles on cryptozoology and alien encounters, and in 2021 as PCC he banned staff from contact with Black Lives Matter organisers.
Another rioter jailed for 32 months
Following the sentencing of two men in Liverpool for their part in what the judge called “an utterly lawless mob” there, PA reports that another man has been jailed for 32 months for violent disorder during riots in Plymouth on Monday.
PA reports:
Michael Williams, 51, of Sparkwell, Devon, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of violent disorder relating to Monday’s incident.
Judge Robert Linford, sentencing Williams and a second defendant at Plymouth crown court on Thursday, said that “thugs like you … ran amok”.
He said Williams was “seen to be fighting and kicking another male” and when he was arrested he was found with a stone in his jogging bottoms.
The judge dismissed as “ludicrous” Williams’s claim that it was a “healing stone”.In video footage played to the court, Williams chanted “Allah, Allah, who the f*** is Allah” after his arrest, and repeatedly swore at police.
Edward Bailey, for Williams, said that the defendant “didn’t set out on this particular evening with the intention of violence” and “had been drinking earlier that day”.
Earlier today, a fabricated image of a non-existent Telegraph article was shared widely on X.
The screenshot showed a headline stating rioters could be sent to “emergency detainment camps” on the Falkland Islands.
Now, the Telegraph has issued a statement confirming that “no such article has ever been published by the Telegraph”.
The Telegraph is aware of an image circulating on X which purports to be a Telegraph article about ’emergency detainment camps’.
No such article has ever been published by the Telegraph.
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) August 8, 2024
Police in Kent have said two people were arrested in Chatham and one in Dover on Wednesday night, but said there had been “no serious disorder” in the county, despite apparent far-right threats to target towns there.
PA reports:
A Kent Police spokesman said a number of people with opposing views attended a location on Maidstone Road in Chatham where two people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences.
“One was alleged to have shouted racial abuse and another made homophobic comments to a police officer,” the spokesman added.
“No serious disorder was reported and there were no injuries.
“There was also no violence or disorder reported anywhere else in the county, however, one man was arrested at a small gathering in Saxon Street, Dover, for common assault and causing criminal damage to a mobile phone.”
There were five arrests in Belfast on Wednesday night after a crowd set bins alight and threw missiles at police officers.
Speaking today after a meeting of the Northern Ireland executive at Stormont, first minister Michelle O’Neill condemned the riots:
We are unequivocally collective in our determination to say no to racism, and stand firmly united in terms of what we see unfolding in front of us.
There is no place in our society for racism in any of its forms. The racist attacks on people, on businesses and homes are absolutely wrong, and have created such a deep fear. A fear that I think perhaps none of us have every seen before among many parts of our community.
There are many people feeling extremely vulnerable, feeling fearful, fearful for their families.
We have mothers who are afraid to walk their children to the park, we have children who are afraid to go to youth clubs and to schemes. We have healthcare workers that are afraid to go to work. We have nurses that are afraid to go home and that is not acceptable.
That is the real, human impact of this type of activity, this type of racist activity in our society. It speaks volumes in terms of hate because that is what it is and it must stop.
Those responsible must and will face the full rigours of the force of the law.”
Two men given 32-month sentences in Liverpool as judge says they formed part of ‘utterly lawless mob’
Judge Andrew Menary has handed down 32-month prison sentences in Liverpool Crown Court to two men who pleaded guilty to violent disorder after unrest last week on Merseyside.
John O’Malley, 43, who had two previous convictions, including a recent one for assault by beating, was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment.
69-year-old William Nelson Morgan was sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment for violent disorder with a concurrent sentence of six months for possessing a wooden baton as an offensive weapon.
During sentencing the judge said the pair were involved in “a large and utterly lawless mob.”
Menary said:
There were [those who saw the deaths by stabbing of three girls in Southport] as an opportunity to sow division and hatred, and so published on social media and in printed leaflets false information about the supposed nationality, ethnicity and religion of the alleged attack. Of course, all of that was complete nonsense. But from that point on, it has been used as a pretext for widespread violence, intimidation and damage.
It is estimated that there were about 1,000 so-called protesters present that night, though quite what they were protesting about remains a mystery to many. The mob were quite deliberately targeting a mosque. Officers were subjected to repeated foul abuse and threats, and deeply offensive racist language was directed at the mosque and everybody or anyone inside, and over several hours, windows were smashed and walls were demolished.
The recovered bricks were hurled time and again at the police, who were attempting to protect the community. A police vehicle was set on fire and the mosque was very badly damaged, as were other buildings in the area.
Over 50 police officers were injured, and the people doing all of this that night weren’t exercising some right to freedom of expression, or lawful protest, but rather they were exploiting the anguish of others, either to further their own twisted ideology, or more likely as an excuse simply for vandalism, intimidation and violence.
They are criminals and they do not represent the decent people who were appalled by their behaviour and left subsequently to clean up their mess.
Starmer said ‘most important lesson’ to learn will be the one learned by those jailed for violent disorder
Keir Starmer has said “the most important lesson” to be taken from the violent disorder over the last days is the one that will be learned by those receiving jail sentences for participating.
PA Media reports that asked by broadcasters about lessons learned and what the government could do differently in the future, the prime minister replied:
The most important lesson is for those involving themselves in disorder, because what we’ve seen is that those who’ve been arrested – now numbered in their hundreds, many have been charged, some already in court, and now a number of individuals sentenced to terms of imprisonment, that is a very important message to those involved in disorder.
And I say it again, anybody involving themselves in disorder, whatever they claim as their motive, will feel the full force of the law.
It’s important I repeat that because we need to make sure that in the coming days, we can give the necessary reassurance to our communities, many of whom are very anxious about the situation.
Starmer to hold Cobra meeting with police chiefs to ‘reflect on last night but also plan for the coming days’
Prime minister Keir Starmer will chair another Cobra meeting with law
enforcement officials on Thursday afternoon to “reflect on last night” and
plan for the coming days, PA Media reports.
After a visit to a mosque in Solihull on Thursday morning, the prime minister told broadcasters “Now it’s important that we don’t let up here and that’s why later on today I will have another Cobra meeting with law enforcement, with senior police officers, to make sure that we reflect on last night but also plan for the coming days.”
While in the West Midlands Starmer held a roundtable discussion with Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood, West Midlands mayor Richard Parker, and members of the Muslim community, and he met police officers who attended recent disorder.
