THREE men have been jailed for violent disorder following far-right riots in Liverpool and Southport.
Liam James Riley, Derek Drummond and Declan Geiran were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today.
The unrest came in the wake of the fatal stabbings of Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, in Southport last week.
A blizzard of lies were spread online claiming that the attacker was Muslim and an immigrant.
Far-right figures such as Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage seized the opportunity to ramp up hatred.
Rallies were then circulated on far-right social media channels.
Fascists hijacked a vigil for the stabbing victims, and rioters descended on the streets of Southport and attacked a mosque.
Violence soon spread around Britain, and on Saturday protesters stormed through Liverpool city centre lobbing bricks and smashing shops. Later, a library was set on fire in Walton.
Derek Drummond, 58, was sentenced to three years in prison after he admitted violent disorder in which he threw bricks and then assaulted an emergency worker in Southport on the night of the vigil.
Declan Geiran, 29, was sentenced to 30 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to violent disorder in Liverpool in which he set a police car on fire.
Liam Riley, 40, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after he admitted violent disorder and racially aggravated behaviour on the same day.
He was said to have been part of a crowd of about 100 people who were throwing rocks and bricks towards officers.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has given top judges in England and Wales the green light to allow courts to sit for longer to deal with an expected surge in prosecutions following the violence.
More than 140 people have been charged in connection to the violence so far.
Two teenagers will appear in court in Sheffield over the targeting of a Holiday Inn housing asylum-seekers in Rotherham.
Aaron Johnson has been accused of distributing a recording of visual images which were threatening, abusive or insulting intending to stir up racial hatred in Stockport.
He will appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court alongside four other men who are accused of violent disorder following rioting in Manchester city centre.
