Man jailed for three years for violent disorder, punching police officer in UK anti-Muslim riots

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) - A British man was on Wednesday jailed for three years for violent disorder during anti-Muslim riots last week, as the first sentences from a wave of violence after the killing of three girls in northwest England were handed down.

Derek Drummond, 58, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court having pleaded guilty to violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker by punching a police officer.

The sentence is believed to be first imposed for a charge of violent disorder since trouble erupted after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed event in the seaside town of Southport.

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Drummond's sentence was the first imposed for disorder in Southport, which broke out the day after last week's killings.

"The genuine and collective grief of the residents of Southport was effectively hijacked by this callous behaviour," Judge Andrew Menary said.

The judge said that, while many in Southport came together to hold a vigil, "there were others who saw these events as an opportunity to sow division and hatred".

Two other men were also jailed over disorder which took place in Liverpool city centre on Saturday.

Declan Geiran, 29, was sentenced to a total of 30 months in jail after pleading guilty to violent disorder and arson by setting the seatbelt of a police van on fire, plus an unrelated charge of malicious communications.

"He's not a clever man, he's not intellectually bright ... he doesn't understand what far right and far left means, he simply went along with the flow," his lawyer Brendan Carville said.

A third man, Liam Riley, 41, was jailed for 20 months having pleaded guilty to violent disorder and a racially-aggravated public order offence.

Sarah Hammond, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Mersey-Cheshire, said in a statement: "The three men sentenced today are the tip of the iceberg, and just the start of what will be a very painful process for many who foolishly chose to involve themselves in violent unrest."

Last week's killings, for which an 18-year old has been charged, triggered a wave of false messaging online that wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant, which Menary said was "complete nonsense" but served as "a pretext for widespread public disorder".

More than 140 people have already been charged in relation to the violence, with British police braced on Wednesday for further anti-Muslim riots.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Michael Holden and Tomasz Janowski)