Tears, denials and excuses: a week in court amid far-right riots in England

There were teenagers and pensioners. Some with a string of convictions and others with none. There were hardened criminals and baby-faced schoolboys, some with the support of parents and others without.

“He’s a pain in the arse,” said one defendant’s longsuffering dad. The father of another told reporters his teenage son was “a moron”.

The Guardian reported from courts across the north of England every day this week as more than 302 people – aged 14 to 69 – nationwide faced a legal reckoning that was as severe as it was swift.

Hundreds more are expected to be sent to custody in the coming weeks as the number of those arrested reached 741 on Friday evening, with suspected offences including violent disorder, arson, assault of emergency workers and inciting racial hatred.

The response of the courts followed the worst outbreak of public disorder in Britain in more than a decade as far-right demonstrations turned violent after the killing of three young girls – Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine – at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport last week.

Judges who would usually reserve shrinking prison spaces for the most serious offenders sent 80% of riot suspects to the cells to await trial – with the total at more than 120 by Friday. The minority who were allowed bail were almost all young.

Keir Starmer praised the “robust and swift response” of the criminal justice system, saying judges should “send a very powerful message to anybody involved, either directly or online, that you are likely to be dealt with within a week”. He added: “Nobody, but nobody, should be involved themselves in this disorder.”

In many cases, solicitors for the alleged rioters denied their clients were racist or anti-immigrant. One lawyer said the men in the dock “do not know the difference between far right and far left”.

The longest prison sentence was reserved for Derek Drummond, 58, who was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to punching a police officer in the face at a far-right rally outside Southport mosque, an hour after he had attended a vigil for the young girls who were killed.

His wife winced in the public gallery as police bodycam footage showed him squaring up to riot police and shouting “Shithouses! Shithouses!” before attacking one of them.

Drummond, who had 14 previous convictions, handed himself in to police four days after the incident. In an interview, he told officers he had been “a fool”, adding: “I’m absolutely ashamed by the way I’ve acted. I’ve let Southport down, I’ve let the kids down, and I’ve let myself down.”

While Drummond was one of many defendants with a history of violence, a significant number had no criminal records.

Liam Grey, 20, had “never been in trouble in his life” until he was charged with violent disorder after the Rotherham riot, in which a group tried to set fire to a Holiday Inn Express housing asylum seekers on Sunday, his solicitor Chris Wong told Sheffield magistrates court.

Wearing a prison-issued grey tracksuit, Grey, who pleaded not guilty, was led to the cells in tears after being refused bail – like each of the adult defendants before the judge that day. He blew a kiss to his mother who, appearing emotional, shouted: “You’ll be all right, Liam, love.” He faces another hearing on 20 August.

Many of those in court were not the “ordinary people with legitimate concerns” as characterised by Tommy Robinson, the anti-Islam activist who has been accused of amplifying the unrest from his Ayia Napa sunlounger.

The youngest of the people charged so far is a 14-year-old boy, who was charged after allegedly aiming a firework at officers in Liverpool. The oldest to appear in court was 69-year-old William Nelson Morgan. He looked despondent in the dock, blinking rapidly and occasionally looking down at the floor as he was jailed for two years and eight months after pleading guilty.

It was clear he had never expected to end up in a courtroom, let alone prison, after taking part in what the judge described as “very serious mob violence” armed with a wooden cosh. It had taken three officers to arrest the retired welder, a widower, who shouted “I’m fucking 70!” as he was being detained, prompting one officer to inquire: “Well, why are you at a fucking riot?”

At Middlesbrough’s eerily beautiful 1970s magistrates court building, it was so busy on one day that three courtrooms were given over to hear the tales of 28 alleged rioters. The defendants were aged 16-56, all of them local to the area. Almost all were accused of violent disorder after rioting in the town and in nearby Hartlepool.

Time and again defence solicitors applied for bail. He cares for his partner who has cancer, said one. He is effectively carer to his parents, said another. He has no previous convictions, said others. Each time the submissions were quickly rejected by a district judge.

Solicitors repeatedly said their clients denied being part of the violence, that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and would be maintaining their innocence in trials that will probably not take place until at least February next year.

One of those pleading not guilty was Lennon Chisholm, 21, of Middlesbrough, who sobbed uncontrollably throughout his appearance and was passed a tissue by his solicitor, David Dedman.

“When things are rushed, mistakes can be made,” Dedman said to the district judge, Marie Mallon, as he applied for bail. It was refused.

There were other outcomes. A 16-year-old who is autistic was accused of smashing car windows with an axe, which he denied. He was remanded into local authority care because, the court heard, of his vulnerability and fears for him should he go to Wetherby young offender institution.

The cases provided a glimpse into what police faced during the violence. People were accused of throwing bricks, a scaffolding pole and pushing a blazing wheelie bin at police lines.

Prosecutors said Thomas Rodgers, 22, who said he was homeless, was part of a group of 30 throwing rocks and bricks at police. “I hope your kids get raped,” he had told officers. “I’m glad I threw rocks.” He was denied bail.

Another defendant was accused of yelling at police while swigging from a can of lager: “We are taking over, I fucking hate you.”

It must have been a surreal experience for some at court that day. One Muslim solicitor had two days earlier been helping to protect a mosque. On Tuesday he was defending someone accused of being involved in violence against the police.

It got so busy at Teesside that a court 40 miles away in South Shields was also used to deal with the defendants. By 7pm things were wrapping up, with more cases expected the next day. And the next.