Men jailed for encouraging unrest on social media

Jordan Parlour (left) and Tyler Kay (right) were jailed for stirring up racial hatred on social media

The first jail terms for encouraging unrest on social media have been handed down, as more people are sentenced over the wave of disorder and rioting.

More than a dozen people were jailed on Friday for their part in the unrest sparked by the killing of three children in Southport last month.

Among them were Tyler Kay, 26, and Jordan Parlour, 28, who were sentenced to 38 months and 20 months in prison respectively for stirring up racial hatred on social media.

In all, 118 people have now been jailed for their involvement in some of the worst unrest the UK has seen in over a decade.

• Who are the rioters and what jail sentences have they received?

• Why are there riots in the UK?

• Watch: Seven days of disorder - how the UK's riots spread

Parlour, of Seacroft, Leeds, who called for an attack on a hotel housing refugees and asylum seekers on Facebook, became the first person to be jailed for stirring up racial hatred during the disorder.

He had suffered a broken heel and was at home when he wrote the posts, which were reported to the police.

Kay was convicted after he used social media to call for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.

The father-of-three, who pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court, had denied intending to stir up racial hatred, but admitted "in hindsight" some of his posts "made [him] look like an idiot".

Judge Adrienne Lucking said she was "completely sure" he knew racial hatred would be "stirred up" after writing "utterly repulsive, racist and shocking posts that have no place in civilised society".

Elsewhere, Richard Williams, 34, became the first person from Wales to be convicted and sentenced for offences associated with the recent disorder.

He posted about taking part in a riot and shared a derogatory meme about migrants in a local Facebook group dedicated to protests.

At Leeds Crown Court, Jordan Plain, 30, was sentenced to eight months in prison for racially aggravated intentional harassment.

Plain, from Horsforth, Leeds, was filmed making racist gestures and shouting racists comments.

Sameer Ali and Adnan Ghafoor were also sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

Their offences took place following an anti-immigration protest and a counter-demonstration in Leeds city centre on 3 August.

Both men were found guilty of affray. Ali, 21, was jailed for 20 months, while Ghafoor, 31, received a two-and-a-half-year sentence after the court heard he had breached a suspended sentence for driving offences.

Suspended Labour councillor Ricky Jones was charged with encouraging violent disorder in connection with comments at a London counter-protest.

He was filmed addressing a crowd in Walthamstow on Wednesday, and reportedly said members of the far-right should have their throats cut.

Leanne Hodgson, 43, was jailed for two and a half years for repeatedly pushing industrial bins at a police line in Sunderland.

Stacey Vint, 40, who pushed a burning wheelie bin into a row of police officers in Middlesbrough, was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Sameer Ali (left), 21, and Adnan Ghafoor, 31, were jailed at Leeds Crown Court

Some 741 people have now been arrested, of which 302 have been charged, the National Police Chief's Council said.

Following a week of riots in towns and cities in England and Northern, Wednesday and Thursday nights saw relative calm, with anti-racism protests held in a number of areas.

Disturbances have continued in Northern Ireland, where police have blamed pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries for fuelling nightly violence in Belfast.

But on Friday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said police would remain on "high alert" this weekend, with the start of the football season "added into the mix" of challenges facing officers this weekend.

Some far-right rioters are believed to have links to England's decades-old football hooligan scene, which has faded since the 1980s but can still flare up in violence on match days.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said more than 6,000 public order-trained officers would be on duty over the weekend.

Meanwhile, King Charles has expressed "heartfelt thanks" to the police and emergency services for tackling the violent disorder, Buckingham Palace said on Friday evening, in his first comments on the unrest.

The palace said the King had been "greatly encouraged by the many examples of community spirit that had countered the aggression and criminality" caused by "a few".