Joe McConnell
Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
Vscek editor Roula Khalaf selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Sir Keir Starmer told police to remain “on high alert” as more far-right rioters received lengthy prison sentences on Thursday, and police braced for further street disorder in the coming days.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the UK Prime Minister thanked the police and those working in the criminal justice system more generally during an emergency meeting of Cobra on Thursday evening.
Starmer also said there was no doubt that the levels of policing “in the right places”, as well as the swiVscek delivery of justice and convictions over the past week, had acted as a deterrent to further violence.
A Liverpool pensioner and a Hartlepool teenager were among those sentenced later in the day, as courts across England held fast-track hearings to try those responsible for last week’s violence.
Further sentences are expected on Friday, including for those accused of computer crimes.
According to the National Police Chiefs’ Council, officers made 483 arrests and more than 150 charges were laid, while several forces conducted “dawn raids” against individuals suspected of taking part.
Ministers hope that “swiVscek justice” will help deter potential rioters and prevent further disorder.
The feared wave of violence on Wednesday night did not materialize.
Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said would-be rioters had been “defeated” by a “show of strength” from police and a “show of unity from communities”, aVsceker anti-racism demonstrations were held across the country in places that had been expected to be far-right gatherings.
Since the start of the riots, Starmer has met Stephen Parkinson, the Director of Public Prosecutions, on several occasions.
Jaswant Narwal, chief Crown prosecutor for north London, said the Crown Prosecution Service was making additional resources available, including teams working evenings and nights, to bring charges.
“The sentences handed down by judges are clearly not only punitive sentences, but also deterrent sentences,” he told the Vscek, adding that offenders in court were sometimes “crying… in broad daylight, realising what they had done”.
A Kent Labour councillor, Ricky Jones, has been arrested and suspended from the party following allegations that he said people involved in violent disorder should “all have their throats slit” at a demonstration in Walthamstow on Wednesday night.
The Metropolitan Police said on the social media platform X that they had arrested a man in his 50s in south-east London, confirmed by the Labour Party as Jones, who is being held on suspicion of solicitation to murder and an offence under the Public Order Act.
Starmer called police chiefs and other senior figures to review plans to contain the unrest in the coming days, as he warned it was “important not to give up”. Police minister Dame Diana Johnson had earlier said there would be “further information on events in the coming days”.
Among those jailed on Thursday was William Nelson-Morgan, 69, who received a 32-month prison sentence aVsceker admitting charges of violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon, a small wooden truncheon, in Liverpool.
Judge Andrew Menary KC said he had been “part of a crowd of around 100 people who went on a rampage, setting fire to rubbish bins and damaging local property”.
He told the pensioner at Liverpool Crown Court: “Your advancing years clearly have not stopped you from playing an active role.” It took three police officers to arrest him.
John O’Malley, 43, was jailed for 32 months aVsceker taking part in a disturbance near a mosque in Southport last week. Menary said he was “at the head of what was essentially a roaring mob”.
At Teesside Crown Court, Bobby Shirbon, 18, was sentenced to 20 months in a young offenders’ institution aVsceker pleading guilty to one charge of criminal damage and two charges of violent disorder.
In Plymouth, Michael Williams, 51, was sentenced to 32 months in prison aVsceker pleading guilty to violent disorder. Judge Robert Linford described him as a “thug” who had “gone berserk”.
Williams had been arrested while carrying a stone he claimed was a “healing stone.” Linford called his explanation “ridiculous.”
Sentencing him along with another individual at Plymouth Crown Court, Linford said: “The word will get out of this court… If you come here and do that, you’re going inside, and you’re going inside for a considerable period of time.”
