Earlier this week, the National Police Chiefs’ Council released data indicating that, to date, 1,127 people have been arrested and 648 charged about the recent violence. As the disturbances proceeded even beyond August, British officials have been trying to find out and bring to justice those involved in acts of violence, vandalism, arson, and racially motivated violence against groups of Muslims and immigrants.
The riots that occurred in the wake of the horrific murders of three young girls in Southport on 29th July have their origin in internet disinformation that attributed the crime to an Islamist migrant. It did not take long for this misinformation to create a surge of violence, which quickly moved through English cities and even to Northern Ireland.
A man said to be charged with incitement of murder and violence will be produced in court today as the British courts battle it out in the riot cases in England. The decision was made in the backdrop of various assurances by the head of the opposition Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, for immediate justice to the people engaged in the mass protest.
Liverpool Crown Court will see Andrew McIntyre in the dock for the offences of encouraging murder, violent disorder, and possession of a bladed article. This is one of the many cases in the pipeline as the criminal justice system tries to come to terms with the riots that have characterised the nation.
Besides McIntyre, other people are expected to be sentenced today on other charges connected with the case. Joseph Bradford, Jamie Easterbrook, Elly-Jayne Cox, and Lisa Bishop will all be awaiting their sentencing at Bristol Crown Court concerning violent disorder. At the same time, Geraint Boyce and Daffron Williams are to be brought to Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court to stand trial for distributing threats through the website’s social platform, Facebook, to promote extremism based on religion.
The move to violent disorder comes as it was warned that suspects could be prosecuted with even more severe offences following the incident involving a 15-year-old boy as the first suspect charged with rioting in the instance. The teenager who produced himself in South Tyneside Youth Court participated in riots in Sunderland. Nevertheless, his case was adjourned due to a decision to charge him with riot – an offence that attracts a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
Such incidents have gradually shrunk because the authorities have tried to comb the net for the perpetrators and bring them to justice. A large number of people have been given hasty trials, and some of them have been condemned to lengthy jail terms. Among them are a 69-year-old man charged with vandalising in Liverpool and an 11-year-old boy detained in Belfast. In another incident, a 13-year-old girl was convicted of violent disorder at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court after she was captured on camera on 31 July attacking an entrance to the hotel that accommodates asylum-seekers by punching and kicking it.
‘This ought to have raised real fear in those who fell prey to these hooligans,’ prosecutor Thomas Power said while addressing the young girl. Here, one only gets depressing news to discover that such a young girl was involved in this violence.
The only other occasion Britain saw such a large scale of riots was in 2011 in the wake of the police shooting of a Black man, after which the protest intensified and raged for a few days on the streets. Efforts were made to address the situation through swift execution of justice, and approximately 4,000 people were arrested in several weeks in 2011. As was the hope of authorities after previous such incidents, the same has already been expected to help bring order in the wake of this latest spate of violence.
