A judge has encouraged prosecutors to consider charging offenders who played central roles in the recent disorder in parts of the UK with rioting, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The words of Judge John Thackray KC, the Recorder of Hull, came after a three-year prison term was handed to Connor Whiteley, who kicked a female police officer to the ground during riots in the Yorkshire city.
Whiteley, 26, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker, after playing a “prominent role” in the “racist, hate-fuelled mob violence” that unfolded in the city on August 3.
Hull Crown Court heard he was at the front of a group confronting police who were trying to protect a hotel known to house asylum seekers, and was seen charging at officers.
The aftermath of disorder in Hull (Olly Burdett/PA)
Whiteley was also part of a group that targeted a garage, setting cars alight and threatening staff, who were forced to lock themselves inside.
Sentencing him on Wednesday, the judge said: “The prosecution do need to look, for those who are playing front and central roles, at the alternative charge of riot rather than violent disorder.”
Violent disorder carries a maximum sentence of five years, and the maximum term for rioting is 10 years, according to sentencing guidelines.
At the same court, father-of-three Trevor Lloyd, 49, who was part of a mob that stormed the hotel, was also jailed for three years.
In Sheffield, a 60-year-old man who pulled a police officer to the ground and grabbed a riot shield as the officer was trying to protect another hotel housing asylum seekers, was jailed for two years and eight months.
Body-worn camera footage was played in court showing Glyn Guest repeatedly being pushed back by a riot shield as he approached a line of police six times outside the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, Rotherham, on Sunday August 4.
At Manchester Magistrates’ Court, a man who was convicted of encouraging violence told a district judge: “I’m guilty miss, but I’m not sure what it means.”
Warren Gilchrest, 52, pleaded guilty to violent disorder after joining a “large group of far-right protesters” who gathered in Piccadilly Gardens on August 3.
In Birmingham, Habeeb Khan pleaded not guilty at the city’s crown court to a charge of possessing an imitation AK-47 with intent to cause “members of the EDL” (English Defence League) to believe violence would be used against them.
Kahn, 49, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, also denied sending a communication threatening death or serious harm between August 4 and 6 in a video uploaded to X, formerly Twitter.
The Metropolitan Police said more people have been charged over disorder in Whitehall on July 31, including a 14-year-old boy.