A judge has urged prosecutors to be tougher on rioters and suggested they should face up to a decade in jail.
The words of Judge John Thackray KC, the Recorder of Hull, came after he handed a three-year prison term 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 Aug 3.
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.”
According to sentencing guidelines, violent disorder carries a maximum sentence of five years while the maximum term for rioting is 10 years.
Hull Crown Court heard Whiteley 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 court heard he kicked the shield of a female police officer, forcing her off her feet and leaving her with a minor injury to her elbow and forearm.
Whiteley was also part of a group that targeted a garage, setting cars alight and threatening staff, who were forced to lock themselves inside.
While the attack was taking place, the judge said that “members of the public, including children, were terrified and cowering only 20 metres away whilst threats were being made to kill them”.
Meanwhile, a court heard on Monday how a mother brought her young child to a violent riot outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Manchester.
Nevey Smith, 21, who was pushing the child in a stroller, joined a demonstration outside the hotel in Newton Heath on July 31.
She was at the front of the crowd and threw water at police officers guarding the hotel.
Smith, of West Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Manchester magistrates’ court on Monday afternoon.
Tess Kenyon, the prosecutor, said: “Footage shows her throwing liquid from a bottle towards police officers who were trying to maintain order.
“She had a child with her in a stroller.”
Defending, Robert Moussalli said Smith had “lost her temper” during the disorder and “threw some water”.
He added: “She was taking the child to her grandmother’s house when she saw her auntie standing with some people near the hotel and went to talk to her,” he said.
“Then people started shouting and she moved to the front of the group and her auntie went to the back with the child. She wasn’t planning to do anything.”
District Judge Joanne Hirst told Smith: “You put your own child at risk.”
The judge added that Smith was “not as heavily involved as others in the demonstration” and was “not heard to utter any direct racist abuse”.
Smith was freed on bail and will be sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on Aug 19.
The riot outside the hotel was part of a wave of violent demonstrations that swept across the UK following the Southport stabbings, in which three young girls were killed.
Elsewhere, a 40-year-old man has been charged with violent disorder and assault by beating an emergency worker during a riot in Weymouth on August 4.
Kevin Searle, of Weymouth, is due to appear at Poole magistrates’ court on Wednesday.
In Birmingham, Habeeb Khan appeared at the Crown Court charged with possessing an imitation AK-47 and accused of using the fake weapon to cause “members of the EDL” (English Defence League) to believe violence would be used against them.
The 49-year-old pleaded not guilty and also denied sending a communication threatening death or serious harm between Aug 4 and 6 in a video uploaded to social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
In London, a 14-year-old boy was charged over his part in a violent demonstration in Whitehall on July 31, while a man denied assaulting a police officer during the same disorder.
Danny Fournier, 41, is alleged to have “struck” the female officer “to the back of the head twice” who was “luckily” wearing a helmet, Westminster magistrates’ court heard.
Meanwhile, at Sheffield Crown Court, Trevor Lloyd, 49, was jailed for three years for being part of a mob that stormed a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, a video of which was posted on TikTok.
The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC - who has already sentenced several people in connection with the incident - said this was the “worst footage I have seen”.
Also in Sheffield, Glyn Guest, 60, wasjailed for two years and eight months for pulling a female officer, who said she was “terrified for my safety”, to the ground.
Stuart Bolton, who was disqualified from driving and had no insurance, drove his partner and 15-year-old son from their home in North Lincolnshire to Rotherham in a Mercedes after hearing about the ongoing protest, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Footage played in court showed him screaming abuse and goading officers in riot gear as his partner attempted to calm him down.
Jailing him for two years and eight months, Judge Richardson said: “You were encouraging the remainder of the crowd around and about you to engage in violence.”
His Mercedes was also confiscated and he was banned from driving for three years.
The officer said it was “a horrific incident of mindless thuggery” and that she had encountered “nothing like it before” in her five and a half years of service.
In Manchester, Warren Gilchrest, 52, admitted violent disorder at the city’s magistrates’ court on Wednesday morning but after pleading guilty, he told District Judge Joanne Hirst: “I’m guilty miss, but I’m not sure what it means.”
In Bristol, Dominic Capaldi, 34, was jailed for 34 months on his son’s seventh birthday after he was captured on police bodycam footage throwing objects outside the Mercure Hotel, which is used to house asylum seekers, while crowds chanted “send them back”.
A government spokesperson said: “The looting and vandalism that we’ve seen is appalling, and those responsible are being brought to justice.
“Those affected may be eligible for up to £1m in compensation as a result of the Riot Compensation Act.
“Individuals and businesses should report any crimes to their local police force and inform their insurance companies as quickly as possible. If they do not have insurance, they should make a claim directly to their local Police Crime Commissioner or mayor with policing responsibilities.”
