A father of three who feared for his life and left his van unattended when a police officer tried to smash the window has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Luke Moran, from Birkdale, was one of five people sentenced at a Liverpool court on Wednesday for his role in the violent riots in Southport.
The judge described the attack, in which a 38-year-old was attacked with a block of concrete, as “the worst incident I have ever seen”.
The latest group of defendants to appear in court in the recent riots across the country includes a man who has been charged or convicted for the violence outside a hotel in Rotherham, south Yorkshire.
At least 497 people have been charged so far in connection with weeks of unrest in England and Northern Ireland that erupted after a knife attack in Southport that left three girls dead and 10 people injured, including eight children.
A Liverpool courtroom was shown police body camera footage of Moran banging on the car window three times with a piece of concrete.
Judge Neil Flewitt said the officer in the car “feared for his life as he thought he might be dragged out of the van and attacked”.
A statement from the officer said the men who attacked his van “became enraged”.
Footage from the officer’s body camera showed the face of the roofer who attacked the patrol car. At the end of the recording, the driver can clearly be heard saying “I have to jump”.
The court was told the driver then fled from the back of the van, assisted by other officers.
Nicholas Sinclair (38) was also sentenced to two years and four months for his role in the riot.
The manager of a scaffolding company from Birkdale admitted throwing the brick and consequently pleaded guilty to violent riot.
Two other men were sentenced concurrently.
Daniel Carrigan (41), from Liverpool, admitted throwing two objects at the window of the police car. He said he suffered from a cocaine addiction and had been using the drug at the time.
He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison.
Thomas Whitehead, 53, from Southport, who worked as a gardener, was sentenced to one year and eight months for throwing objects during the riot.
The court was told he did not know what hit him when he made the throw from the back of the group.
All the men were told they must serve at least half their sentences.
A 20-year-old from Banks, Southport, who previously admitted throwing concrete during the riot, was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institution.
Jake Rouser was caught on video taking part in a violent riot and was ordered by a judge to spend half his sentence in prison and the other half on community work.
At sentencing it was acknowledged his behaviour was uncharacteristic and the defence accepted their client “did something extremely stupid”.
Lowther’s parents were in the public gallery as he was led away. His mother tried to comfort him, saying “I love you and it’s OK”.
Rotherham
A former soldier was among those charged in court on Wednesday over the violence outside a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers.
Peter Beard, 43, of Brampton Bearlow, Rotherham, was jailed for two and a half years after admitting violently pushing a number of police officers.
The father of three, who served in Kosovo, Bosnia and Northern Ireland, was told by Judge Jeremy Richardson KC “your behaviour was shameful and in many ways astonishing”. During sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court the judge heard Beard played for the Royal Green Jackets from 1998 to 2003 and said he was surprised Beard had been caught up in it because while peacekeepers were fine they were a “target” for social unrest.
Hull
A man who attacked a police officer with a metal bench is one of three people jailed for responsibility for violent riots in Hull.
Jordan Murray, 26, of Glasby Road, Hull, admitted committing violent riot and looting two shops at Hull Magistrates’ Court on August 12. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment on Wednesday.
David Buckle, 39, and Jermaine Glover, 23, were given three and two years prison respectively for their roles.
Buckle, of Southgate Way, Hull, admitted violent disorder at Hull Magistrates’ Court on 14 August.
Glover, of Cranswick Grove, Hull, pleaded guilty to violent rioting and arson at the same court the following day.
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities have arrested a man on suspicion of cyber terrorism, which is linked to disinformation that is alleged to have incited fears in the UK.
Police that Farhan Asif had been linked to a website which published false names for the suspected Southport attackers and suggested they were asylum seekers who had come to the UK in small boats.
The article was published on the website Channel3Now hours after the attack and was widely cited in viral posts on social media.