Johanna Chisholm
Live page editor

Judges in courts across the country continued to hand down sentences to people who were charged in connection to the violent disorder that unfolded in cities earlier this summer.

One judge told three men jailed in Hull that their behaviour was “utterly deplorable” while a judge in Liverpool told a man who was sentenced for three years that his attack on a police van, external was "as bad a case as I have seen so far".

We'll be back here again tomorrow to bring you more live coverage on the sentencings, but if you want to get caught up on what happened today you can do that here.

This page was written by Rachel Flynn, Andrew Humphrey and Sophie Abdulla, and it was edited by Nadia Ragozhina, Jacqueline Howard and me.

Before we pause our live coverage of today's sentencings, let's get you caught up on some of the latest developments from the day:

• Perrie Fisher, 29, of Farnham, who threw a scooter at a hotel housing asylum seekers and missed his court date to go on holiday, has been sentenced to two years and five months
• Luke Moran, 38, from Birkdale, received a three-year sentence for attacking a police vehicle in Southport. Judge Neil Flewitt said it was "as bad a case as I have seen so far"
• Former soldier Peter Beard, 43, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years after pushing aggressively at police as they tried to protect a hotel housing asylum seekers. The judge called his case "astonishing"
• And police in Pakistan have arrested Farhan Asif on suspicion of cyber terrorism. He is believed to be linked to spreading false information thought to have fuelled the riots. Read more about this here

Image source, CPS

A man who threw a scooter at a hotel housing asylum seekers, and missed his court date to go on holiday, has been sentenced to two years and five months.

Perrie Fisher, 29, of Hillside Road, Farnham, was arrested at Gatwick airport on return from Dubai on 19 August.

On 31 July, Fisher threw a children's scooter "with force" at the Potters International Hotel and told a police officer to f*** off, the judge told Winchester Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder and a bail act offence.

Marianna Spring
Disinformation and social media correspondent

Image source, EPA

Today, police in Pakistan have arrested a man called Farhan Asif over his connection to a website called Channel3Now. It is accused of fuelling the recent riots in the UK after it published a story - widely quoted on X - making false claims about the identity of the Southport attacker.

Farhan is one of the people I tracked down for this investigation revealing the real story about the site.

He found unlikely company with two others I tracked down associated with the site: an amateur hockey player from Nova Scotia - and a man who claimed he was called Kevin from Houston, Texas.

At the time, I spoke to friends and colleagues of Farhan and James, who have corroborated that they are real people, and questioned a person who claims to be the “management” at the site.

What I found appears to be a commercial operation attempting to aggregate crime news while making money on social media. I did not find any evidence to substantiate claims that Channel3Now’s misinformation could be linked to the Russian state.

Now Farhan Asif has been arrested, comments from police sources corroborate the idea this was about generating traction - and income - rather than a foreign influence operation. And they also support what the site's “management” told me at the time. They said publishing the false name was "an error, not intentional”.

This story offers us more insight into the often very messy social media world that can contribute to violence offline.

And it raises further questions about how law enforcement deals with people accused of spreading disinformation that then triggers racist hate, whether deliberate or not.

Two more convictions to bring you now.

David Dixon, 22, of Salisbury Avenue, Hindley, Wigan, has been jailed for a year and six months after throwing a brick at police during disorder in Hartlepool on 31 July.

He admitted to violent disorder and possessing cocaine - which was found in his car when he was arrested eleven days later.

Judge Francis Laird KC told Dixon: "Your behaviour, and the behaviour of others around you, was disgraceful."

Michael Stevenson, 34, of Newport Road, Middlesbrough, has been sentenced to two years and two months after trying to set fire to a wheelie bin which was pushed towards riot police during disorder in Middleborough.

When he was arrested, Stevenson said he had been visited at his home by police five years earlier and he had "acted in retaliation for that", prosecutor Rachel Masters told the court.

Image source, PA Media

Despite a general acceptance that the justice system was under strain before this summer's riots, those involved in the unrest have been arrested, charged, tried and sentenced in a matter of days.

The rapid progress through the courts was a deliberate policy of the government, set out by the prime minister at the beginning of August in an attempt to bring the disorder to an end.

"That should send a very powerful message to anybody involved, either directly or online, that you are likely to be dealt with within a week. Nobody, but nobody, should be involved themselves in this disorder," Keir Starmer said.

Bringing those cases to court so quickly has taken an enormous effort by investigators who pored over body-worn video and CCTV, and made use of facial recognition technology to match people in riot footage against known offenders.

Many of the rioters pleaded guilty in order to reduce their sentences by a third, faced with overwhelming evidence.

The government this week activated emergency measures to ease prison overcrowding as more rioters were being sentenced, allowing defendants waiting for a court appearance will be kept in police cells until prison space is available.

A 21-year-old man is the latest to have been charged in relation to the violent disorder that broke out in Bristol on 3 August.

Kieran Leach, of Keynsham, was charged with violent disorder and assault by beating overnight, the Avon and Somerset Police reported.

Leach appeared at Bristol Magistrates’ Court earlier today and is due to appear at Bristol Crown Court on 9 September.

A judge adjourned the sentencing of Aaron Johnson today after he warned that the man - who admitted to inciting racial hatred earlier this month - needed to get a lawyer before he is dealt with.

Johnson, 32, of Criterion Street, Stockport, admitted to using racist language in the live stream broadcast to "millions of people" from outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Stockport on 5 August.

Judge Maurice Greene gave the Johnson the telephone number of a local law firm when he appeared at Manchester Crown Court earlier today.

"You are in a serious position," the judge warned.

Johnson will be sentenced on 19 September.

Pritti Mistry
Reporting from Hull

A man who charged at police officers with a long metal bench are among three men jailed for their part in violent unrest in Hull.

Jordan Murray, 26, of Grasby Road, Hull, previously admitted to violent disorder and looting two shops - O2 and Greggs - on 3 August. He was handed a two-year jail term.

Hull Crown Court heard police officers were hit by a "barrage of missiles" as they guarded a hotel housing asylum seekers on Ferensway, while shops in the city were looted and a family - including two children - locked themselves in a garage as a mob set fire to tyres and smashed cars.

Prosecutor Jeremy Evans said the family, which included a 12-year-old girl with autism and a 16-year-old boy, and their friends were "in fear for their lives" having barricaded themselves after seeing a mob gather at the open garage on Milky Way.

He said Murray threw the metal bench towards a line of police officers and was seen behaving in an aggressive manner towards them throughout.

Also sentenced were 39-year-old David Buckle and 23-year-old Jermaine Glover.

Buckle, of Southgate Way, Hull, was jailed for three years after admitting violent disorder at a previous hearing.

Glover, of Cranswick Grove, Hull, has been handed a two-year prison term after pleading guilty to violent disorder and arson.

Judge John Thackray told all three men the violent disorder on 3 August was “utterly deplorable”.

“I've watched all of the video footage. It's depressing and it's horrifying to watch from beginning to end.”

As mentioned in our previous post, four more men have been jailed following their sentencing for their parts in violent disorder in Southport. They include:

• Nicholas Sinclair, 38, from Birkdale, admitted to throwing bricks and pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was sentenced to two years and eight months
• 41-year-old Daniel Carrigan, who admitted to struggling with cocaine addiction and had been on the drug at the time he threw two items at the window of a police van, got a punishment of two years eight months
• Thomas Whitehead, 53, from Southport, was given a sentence for one year eight months for throwing an object during the violent disorder
• Jake Lowther, 20, from Southport, admitted to throwing concrete in riots and was given a prison sentence of eighteen months in a young offenders institution, but was told he would spend half his sentence in the community as it was accepted that his actions were out of character

A father-of-three who left a police officer fearing for his life as he tried to smash a van window amid disorder has been jailed for three years.

A judge has described the attack by the 38-year-old on a police vehicle with a piece of concrete "as bad a case as I have seen so far".

Luke Moran, from Birkdale, was one of five people sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday for their part in violent disorder in Southport.

The court was played body worn footage from a police officer that showed Moran hitting vehicles window three times with the chunk of concrete.

Judge Neil Flewitt said that a police officer in the vehicle "feared for his life believing he might be pulled from the carrier and attacked".

Image source, CPS

Carrie Davies
BBC Pakistan Correspondent

The police report also states that Asif "admitted to providing misleading information to the BBC regarding his accomplices in an attempt to divert blame to others".

The report does not detail what this relates to, but at the start of August, the BBC received emails from someone calling themselves ‘Kevin’ from Channel3Now’s official email address, which blamed ‘our UK based team’ for the article that was shared with false information relating to the Southport alleged attacker.

Carrie Davies
BBC Pakistan Correspondent

More now on Farhan Asif, who has been arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of cyber terrorism that fuelled UK riots.

On raiding Asif’s property, the police recovered two laptops and a mobile phone used by Asif. After analysing the devices, the police say that the X, formerly Twitter, account for Channel3Now was found active.

As a reminder, Channel3Now is a website which posted an article in the hours after the Southport attack giving a false name of the attacker and suggesting that he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the UK by boat last year.

The police report states that Asif told them that he runs the account with the purpose of sharing national and international news and that he picked up the alleged post from another user without checking the authenticity of the information before sharing.

The police say that he used his account “with the intent to glorify the incident about the arrest of a Muslim asylum seeker by police… and created a sense of fear, panic, insecurity in the government and the public” and it is on this basis that they have filed a case against him.

As judges across the country continue to hand down sentences related to the recent disorder, we can now bring you some updates on the following two men who have charges against them stemming from the riots.

• Cameron Callear, 30, of Orchard Way, Thurnscoe, has pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Sheffield Magistrates' Court today. The 30-year-old will be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday
• Edgar Didzulas, 39, of Bath Street, Southport, has been charged with violent disorder after participating in the riots that unfolded in Southport. He was remanded in custody and will appear at Liverpool Magistrates' Court today.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Riots show how the UK's far right has changedpublished at 14:23 British Summer Time 21 August

14:23 BST 21 August

Daniel De Simone
Investigations correspondent

Image source, PA Media

Three weeks on from the start of the riots, many of us are still trying to make sense of their impact.

Will the disorder come to be seen as a one-off outburst quickly faced down by the public and police, or as a display of power by a newly dangerous far right?

The murders in Southport of Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King were seized upon by extremists, who exploited the tragedy to promote their own hatreds and agendas.

Online lies and misinformation inflamed the situation and some key instigators used social media and messaging apps to spread hatred and call for protests at fixed times and places.

The result was a series of violent flash mobs, spanning over several days, with racial and religious hatred the central animating motive. Mobs attacked hotels housing migrants, tried to set the buildings alight and pulled people from their cars.

The riots have been characterised as “far right” by public figures from the prime minister downwards. For many people, this description suggests the disorder was somehow organised by named, specific, formal groups or political parties; and the far right’s history of protest and violence by organisations like the National Front reinforces this idea.

As someone who has spent years investigating right-wing extremism, I keep being asked who organised the chaos, as if there is one simple answer.

But the recent disorder is more complex and has laid bare the anarchy of modern right-wing extremism, as well as the extent of its reach.

The truth is that no one organisation owned or organised the riots: they were bigger than that.

• Read here: Riots show how the UK's far right has changed

Image source, Reuters

King Charles has been meeting the families of the three young girls who were killed in the Southport attack.

It was held in Clarence House, a royal residence in central London.

It comes after King Charles travelled to Southport yesterday, where he expressed his "sympathy and empathy" for the people of Southport.

During a private meeting the King heard about the experiences of some of the young children who were attacked, and also signed a book of condolence.

The monarch also met regional leaders and heard from frontline staff representing Merseyside's police, fire and rescue and ambulance services at Southport Community Fire Station who responded to the attack.

A man who is alleged to have thrown a fire extinguisher, chairs and fencing at police officers guarding a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers has had his bail revoked.

Morgan Hardy, 29, of Melton High Street, Rotherham was arrested following the rioting outside the Holiday Inn Express, at Manvers, which left 58 police officers, three police horses and a police dog injured, and saw attempts to storm the building and set it on fire.

He appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on bail and pleaded not guilty to violent disorder, but was remanded in custody after Judge Richardson said he was "staggered" he had been granted bail by a magistrates court last week.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

A 27-year-old man has pleaded guilty to arson with intent to endanger life, violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon.

Thomas Birley, of Rowms Lane, Swinton, Rotherham, is accused of stoking the fire in the bin that was pushed against an exit at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Manvers on 4 August.

He was also accused of throwing items at the police and squaring up to officers with riot shields while brandishing a police baton.

Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC told the court the case was, so far, "unquestionably the most serious" in relation to the disorder in Rotherham.

"This is a crime which carries a life sentence.

"I rule nothing in and rule nothing out," Richardson adds.

Birley is due to be sentenced on 6 September.

Three more people have been charged over the unrest in Tamworth and Stoke-on-Trent.

Tommy McQuaker, 28, of Amington, Tamworth, has been charged with violent disorder and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

Martin Carter, 36, of Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent and Aimie Holliwell, 37, Rugeley, Staffordshire, have both been charged with violent disorder.

All three will be held in custody until their next court appearance.

Image source, South Yorkshire Police

Peter Beard, 43, has been sentenced to two-and-a-half years after pushing aggressively at a line of police as they tried to protect a hotel housing asylum seekers.

The father-of-three, of Becknoll Road, Brampton Bierlow, was filmed by body-worn cameras at the front of a mob confronting police outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham.

Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said he was "astonished" Beard had become involved.

He told the court: "You have been, I'm told, on the receiving end of attacks by those indulging in public disorder in war zones.

"You know what it is like to be under attack and, yet, there you were attacking a police officer who was doing his duty.

"You have been, so to speak, a victim yourself and here you are falling for sentence as a perpetrator."