A 32-year-old man became first adult to face rioting charges when appeared in court Friday following a week of unrest across England and Northern Ireland ignited by a July 29 knife attack in which three young girls were killed. File photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA-EFE
Aug. 16 (UPI) — The first adult to face rioting charges following a week of unrest across England and Northern Ireland, ignited by a July 29 knife attack in which three young girls were killed, appeared in court Friday.
Kieran Usher, 32, did not enter a plea as he appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court on Friday morning.
His next apprearance is scheduled for Aug. 23 at Newcastle Crown Court.
Usher, of Sunderland, was arrested Thursday by Northumbria Police and was charged with rioting in relation to alleged disorder that took place in Sunderland on Aug. 2.
The Crown Prosecution Service said he was “one of a number of individuals” it expected would face the more serious charge — which carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence — after a 15-year-old boy became the first Thursday.
That compares with the maximum five years in prison for violent disorder offenses with which the majority of people accused of taking part in the unrest have been charged until now.
In Northern Ireland, three men and a boy were charged with riot over the weekend.
Usher’s case is likely to be referred to a crown court as the maximum prison sentence a magistrate can impose is 12 months.
On the other side of the country at Preston Crown Court, 20 miles from the scene of the dance school killings in Southport, 41-year-old Roger Haywood of Blackpool was sentenced to 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
Judge Robert Altham said a drunken Haywood fronted an “angry” mob that ran amok through the tourist town of Blackpool pelting police officers with missiles and injuring a security guard at a shopping mall.
The judge told the court that Haywood incited a group of people to break through a police cordon near the town’s war memorial, attempting to use a megaphone to urge them on but was “too intoxicated,” before going on to attack two police officers.
Another 460 suspects are currently going through criminal proceedings after Prime Minister Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, vowed speedy justice for people involved in “far-right thuggery” in cities and towns in England and Northern Ireland in which dozens of police were injured and minorities and hotels housing asylum seekers were attacked.
Of those, about 185 have pleaded guilty and are being sent to the crown courts to be sentenced, Justice Department figures show, and 153 have been committed for trial after pleading not guilty.
At least 99 people have been sentenced so far with the fact many received the maximum three years in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder being credited with deterring further outbreaks of unrest.
About 30 cases are in Northern Ireland with most charges related to anti-migrant demonstrations or race-hate attacks but justice is proceeding considerably more slowly due to different processes than in England where sentencing has been expedited.
Many suspects have been denied bail, regardless of their plea, meaning they remain in prison on remand until they are sentenced or go to trial.