First three rioters handed seven-year sentence between them for violent disorder
Three men involved in the riots which have been taking place across the country this month have been sentenced.
Liam Riley, 40, has been sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday (7 August) to 20 months in prison for violent disorder and racially aggravated behaviour.
Meanwhile, Declan Geiran, 29, has been handed a sentence of 30 months in prison for both violent disorder and sending a malicious communication last year.
Advert
A third man, Derek Drummond, 58 has also been sentenced. He has received three years, after he admitted to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker in Southport on 30 July.
Further suspects will appear in court this week, facing similar charges.
One man has been accused of distributing a recording of visual images which were threatening, abusive or insulting and intending to stir up racial hatred on Monday in Manchester.
He will appear alongside four others accused of violent disorder on Saturday, 4 August.
Meanwhile, another man has been charged with possessing a weapon and a woman will appear at Warrington Magistrates’ Court to face sentencing, after publishing written material to stir up racial hatred.
The sentencing comes after horrifying riots have taken place across the country over the past week, following the death of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event on 29 July.
The girls - Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9 - tragically passed away following a horrific knife attack.
Speaking at the sentencing, Judge Andrew Menary KC, said: “Every decent member of the community affected by these events will have been appalled, horrified and deeply disturbed by what has taken place in their neighbourhoods.
“On Monday July 29, a little over a week ago now, many families in the town of Southport suffered devastating loss when three little girls and numerous other children and adults were brutally killed and seriously injured in a knife attack at a holiday dance class."
Judge Menary continued: “While still shocked and bewildered by these terrible events, many residents in the town came together the following evening for a vigil in support of the grieving families.
“However at the same time there were others who saw these events as an opportunity to sow division and hatred, and so published – on social media and in printed leaflets – false information about the nationality, ethnicity and supposed religion of the alleged attacker.
“Of course, all of this was complete nonsense but from that point on it has been used as a pretext for widespread disorder, beginning that night in Southport and escalating subsequently across the country, including in this city Liverpool. On the evening of the vigil the police thought that they would be joining with a community in mourning.
“By the end of the night those same officers were attempting to defend a part of the town and themselves in a pitched battle with a large and utterly lawless mob.
“It is estimated there were about 1,000 so-called ‘protesters’ – though quite what they were protesting about remains a mystery to many.”
Lucy Devine