Pensioner, 69, among latest rioters jailed after disorder

John O'Malley (left) and William Nelson Morgan (right)

Rioters have been given prison time for their involvement in some of the worst unrest the UK has seen in over a decade.

Judges in Liverpool, Plymouth and Teesside, among other towns and cities, handed down sentences for violent disorder sparked by the killing of three young girls in Southport 10 days ago.

Those jailed include a 69-year-old man who armed himself with a small truncheon and a 28-year-old man who knocked a teenager off his bike with a motorbike helmet.

There were 21 convictions on Thursday, prosecutors said, and more rioters are facing jail in the coming days as suspects are fast-tracked to appear in court.

Former postmaster and school governor Steven Mailen, 54, and his partner Ryan Sheers, 29, were each handed a prison sentence of two years and two months at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday.

Mailen, of Arch Street, Hartlepool, was described as "one of the main instigators" of a large-scale disturbance in the town on 31 July.

A judge said Mailen and Sheers, of Powlett Road, Hartlepool, were "at the very forefront of the mob". The judge said they tried to push their way through a police cordon, with Mailen taunting officers and encouraging others to use violence towards them.

At the same court, Kieron Gatenby, 19, was sentenced to 16 months' in a young offender institution after he was found to be part of a group throwing missiles at police and smashing the windows of houses, cars and shops while chanting racial slurs.

The teenager, of Yeovil Walk, Hartlepool, denied having any racist beliefs but admitted his behaviour was unacceptable.

Elsewhere, two men were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court for two years and eight months after admitting violent disorder.

John O'Malley, 43, of Cambridge Gardens in Southport, was identified from footage of the violence in Southport on July 30.

The sentencing judge told him: "You were at the front of what was essentially a baying mob."

William Nelson Morgan, of Linton Street, Walton, was jailed for his part in unrest in which police were attacked and a library was set on fire.

The 69-year-old admitted violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon - a truncheon - in Liverpool on Saturday night.

Two brothers who looted the library community hub set ablaze by rioters were also jailed at the court.

Adam Wharton, 28, and Ellis Wharton, 22, targeted the burned-out site but the latter was caught by an officer as he removed a large computer monitor while his older brother was a lookout.

The brothers, of Selwyn Street in Walton, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to burglary with intent to steal, while Ellis Wharton changed his plea on Thursday to admit assaulting an emergency worker.

Serial criminal Adam Wharton was handed 20 months in jail and Ellis Wharton, who has no previous convictions, was given 11 months.

At Plymouth Crown Court on Thursday, 29-year-old Lucas Ormond Skeaping was sentenced to 18 months for violent disorder after throwing missiles and knocking a teenager off his bike with a motorbike helmet during a protest in Plymouth on Monday.

Prosecutor Lewis Aldous said the defendant, of Warran Lane, Tavistock, had a GoPro camera which captured him throwing a full 500ml bottle of Coca Cola and a rock.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said 21 convictions took place on Thursday.

Victoria Cook, chief crown prosecutor for CPS South West, said: "The substantial sentences handed down today should send a chilling message to those arrested, those sat in cells ahead of their court hearing and those still waiting for a knock from the police."

Police have made almost 500 arrests in connection with disorder following the Southport stabbing 10 days ago.

Some 149 charges have been brought so far, with police expecting that number to "rise significantly".

The spate of violence is the worst the UK has experienced since 2011, when riots between 6 and 11 August across England saw looting and arson, as well as mass deployment of police and the deaths of five people.