Dominic Casciani and Callum May
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

This post contains strong language.

Beginning with Drummond, prosecutor Chris Taylor tells the court that he had attended a violent protest involving around 1,000 people outside Southport’s mosque on 31 July.

“There was significant damage to property and the mosque,” says Taylor. “There were chants of ‘this is our [expletive] country’... and ‘scumbag bastards’."

Taylor shows the court three clips of footage of Drummond, wearing a shorts and a navy blue polo top. He can be seen kicking and attacking police as they try to form a defensive line with their shields. He then throws a brick. (The judge later said that Drummond did not throw the brick).

As the footage is shown in court, Drummond shows little emotion.

The court hears that following his arrest, Drummond told the police that he was deeply sorry to the people he had let down, says Taylor.

“He accepted confronting the police and couldn’t explain why,” says Mr Taylor.

“Tensions were very high. He admitted chanting but could not remember what he said. He believed his behaviour was appalling. He was shown video and accepted it was him."

Dominic Casciani and Callum May
Reporting from Liverpool Crown Court

The sentencing of three men convicted of violent disorder in Merseyside, following the attacks in Southport, has begun at Liverpool Crown Court.

These are the first Crown Court sentencings for serious offences following a week of violence.

Derek Drummond, 58, of Pool Street, and Declan Geiran, 29, of Kelso Road, both of Liverpool and Liam James Riley of Walton Road, Kirkdale, all admitted at court hearings on Monday that they had taken part in violence.

Drummond has also pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker while Geiran has admitted arson by attacking a police vehicle.

Lesley-Anne McKeown
BBC News NI

Police in Belfast say six people have been arrested after a number of race-related hate crimes and disorder on Tuesday.

A 15-year-old boy suffered minor facial injuries after being assaulted at a Middle Eastern shop in west Belfast. Eggs were also thrown at the premises.

A car was hijacked and deliberately driven into an estate agency in the Woodvale Road area.

Police say three teenagers were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour after officers responded to reports of masked youths in the Shankill area.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Melanie Jones said: “The scenes we have been seeing across Belfast over the last few days have been a disgrace and have no place in Northern Ireland."

Joe Pike
Political investigations correspondent

Image source, PA

MPs who have high-profile constituency offices should consider working from home, according to advice from the House of Commons speaker.

“Members - particularly those with prominent and easily identifiable office locations - may wish to consider their office security protocols.” Lindsay Hoyle says in an email sent to all MPs.

“We have no information to suggest that members or their offices are targets for this activity. However, we note the spontaneity and unpredictable nature of the disorder, and would therefore encourage members and their offices to exercise caution”, he said.

MPs with offices near the locations of demonstrations planned for Wednesday night have already been warned by Parliament’s security team about possible disorder.

Lauren Moss
Reporting from Bootle Town Hall

More from the inquest hearing this morning.

As the hearing concluded, senior coroner Julie Goulding said: “It is impossible to adequately articulate the devastating lifelong effects the truly tragic events have had and will continue to have on the parents, families and friends of Elsie, Bebe and Alice who cruelly lost their young lives in such horrific circumstances.

“The three young children were full of life and energy and will be missed beyond any description my woefully inadequate words may attempt to describe.

"I therefore offer my deepest condolences to Elsie’s, Bebe’s and Alice’s parents, families and friends and those heartfelt condolences of all of my staff here at the coroner’s court."

Lauren Moss
Reporting from Bootle Town Hall

Image source, PA/Merseyside Police

The inquests have opened into the deaths of three girls who were fatally stabbed in Southport.

Bebe King, aged six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar who was nine, had all been at a Taylor Swift themed dance class on Hart Street, Southport on Monday 29 July.

The senior coroner, Julie Goulding, says the hearing was a “short, sombre and formal process” to open and adjourn the inquests and allow criminal proceedings to continue "unfettered".

The girls' families didn’t attend, nor did any members of the public, with journalists the only other people present.

The coroner said opening the inquests would allow death certificates to be issued to the girls’ families and their funerals to take place.

Full inquests are expected to be held next year.

Image source, EPA

"If you break the law, action will be taken against you," the London mayor has warned.

Sadiq Khan in a post on X said he was aware of reports of a far-right group planning to target locations in London - and he's working with the police to protect targeted buildings.

"Acts of violence and disorder on the streets of London will not be tolerated and, if you commit a crime, you will be arrested and face the full force of the law", he said.

The mayor acknowledges that Muslim and minority ethnic communities feel "scared and fearful" - and asks Londoners to "check on their friends and neighbours".

Devon and Cornwall Police have charged six people with violent disorder after protests on Monday night.

Clashes in the city centre left two police officers injured and two members of the public in hospital.

The six people charged are four adults and two 17-year-old boys and they're due to appear at Plymouth Magistrates' Court later today.

Tom Gerken
Technology reporter

Image source, EPA

Former Twitter executive Bruce Daisley says Elon Musk is “an interesting challenge” for the UK, because not only does he own X, he’s “a pretty toxic user of the platform himself”.

“He's largely responsible for bringing Tommy Robinson back onto Twitter, and then as a user of the platform, amplifying his voice to the extent that he has gone from really the bargain basement of politics to being one of the biggest names orchestrating potentially this ongoing racial conflict.

“So I think Elon Musk is playing a pretty pivotal role, and it's why it's such a challenge to try and to prohibit or to regulate what he's actually doing right now.”

Daisley, who used to be vice president of Europe at Twitter (back before the site became X), says the UK needs to bring the Online Safety Act, which was passed by the previous government, into force. It was due to come into force in the second half of 2025.

"If companies don't comply [with the act], there is the potential for senior leaders of the organisations to be held criminally responsible themselves,” he says - and it's "criminal liability that mobilises senior leaders into taking action".

Unrest has spread across cities and towns in England and Northern Ireland following the Southport attack that saw three girls killed at a dance event.

More from John Hayes now, who says he doesn't think the recent disorder "has anything at all to do with the Southport stabbings".

He tells the Today programme he thinks there's been "strong undertones of discontent for some time about the levels of immigration".

"This is just a catalyst or a trigger, I don't think it's the root cause," he adds.

"I do get dismayed when I hear Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper talking about the police are going to come down with the full force of the law etc on these people.

"They need to start listening and understanding that they need to address the cause rather than the symptoms.

"I don't condone the violence but there's an awful lot of unhappy people in this country at the moment that want something to be done and I don't think that until the government starts to address that this problem is going to go away." You can listen to the full interview here.

Image source, Jonathan Hayes

John Hayes - the businessman who was stabbed in the leg when he intervened in the Southport attack - says he's still "hobbling around on crutches" but is on the mend.

Speaking about the attack, he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme he saw a girl who looked badly injured on the floor, and then saw the attacker "coming at me" and "flailing this knife around" with blood on it.

"My overriding thought at the time was not for myself but hugely upset that I couldn't have done more to either prevent this guy from doing what he did or harm to these children."

Hayes says the attacker didn't say anything but "looked pretty menacing". "I described him at the police station like a crouching tiger," he adds.

Joe Pike
Political and investigations correspondent

More now from communities minister Jim McMahon who tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government is "concerned" about a list of 39 premises shared on Telegram which seem to be linked to organisations that assist immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

(You can read more on this here - and some immigration lawyers say they fear being attacked.)

“We are concerned about the information that is being shared online”, McMahon says. “All of us are concerned that a list is being circulated.

“We at this point don’t know if those will transpire to be protests in the way that we’ve seen in other places. Or whether it’s a list that’s intended just to cause alarm and distress, or even to provoke.

“But to be clear we are absolutely prepared in terms of our policing response, our prosecutor response and also our court response.”

Thailand has become the latest country to warn its citizens about visiting the UK.

The Royal Thai Embassy in London warned any Thais in or coming to the UK should be more vigilant and avoid going to areas where there are protests.

Other countries to have warned their citizens about travel to the UK include Nigeria, Malaysia, India, Australia and Indonesia.

Jim McMahon, minister for housing communities and local government, says he understands people are "feeling very anxious" ahead of more planned protests - and is urging the public to be "vigilant".

He tells BBC Breakfast that those involved in disruption can expect to "face the full force of the law".

That's something PM Keir Starmer also reiterated last night - and that rioters will be dealt with swiftly with some people sentenced by the end of the week.

McMahon adds that communities have come together in the riots, saying: "On one hand, you have people who are setting out to knock down a community, and literally on the other hand you've got people that are building a community back up, sometimes from the dust."

"I haven't felt fear like this for probably 10 to 15 years when the BNP were in force," a British Muslim solicitor tells BBC Breakfast.

Aziz Deen, who is from the Bristol Muslim strategic leadership group, met with officers in the city last night to discuss security.

"I've been advised to work from home because my office is right where the protests begin. I feel threatened. I feel fear," he says.

Lawyers - mainly those working in immigration law - have said they fear being attacked after their workplaces were on a list of offices circulated on social media. Deen is not in immigration law but says no lawyers should be targeted.

The British Retail Consortium - a trade body which represents shops - will hold an emergency meeting with members this morning following rioting on high streets and a falling footfall.

Chief Executive Helen Dickinson tells BBC Breakfast the "big focus" is safety for both the customers and staff in retail locations.

She adds that there may be some shorter opening hours and temporary closures in shops but the "vast majority" of members are continuing to serve customers as usual.

She adds that the previous government committed to a standalone offence of violence and abuse against a retail worker - and this has been carried forward by the current government.

Image source, Reuters

Later this morning, inquests are set to be formally opened into the deaths of the three girls killed in the Southport attack.

Bebe King, six, Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all killed on 29 July.

Since then, a number of vigils have taken place and hundreds of floral tributes have been left at the scene.

The hearing today at Bootle Town Hall in Merseyside is likely to be short but we have a reporter there and will keep you updated.

As we've been reporting this morning, there are believed to be a number of potential planned events organised today.

Yesterday London's Metropolitan Police said they were aware of "events planned by hateful and divisive groups across the capital [tonight]".

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine, in charge of the policing operation, said: "We will not tolerate this on our streets.

"We will use every power, tactic and tool available to prevent further scenes of disorder. We arrested more than 100 people in central London disorder last week and we will not hesitate to arrest hundreds more if they take to the streets intent on fuelling violence."

We've done a breakdown here of the situation so far in numbers:

• It is understood there are at least 30 potential gatherings planned for today, police sources say - but they believe the situation is "manageable"
• More than 400 arrests have been made and around 100 people have been charged in connection with the disorder. Those cases are beginning to filter through court now
• Nearly 6,000 public order officers are being mobilised to respond to any disorder in the coming days. They'll make up the "standing army" of police announced by Starmer on Monday
• Over 500 extra prison places are being made available in light of the increased pressure on the criminal justice system. These places were already planned but are now being accelerated
• Police are looking to collate the number of officers injured. Last night South Yorkshire Police said a total of 51 were injured outside Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham. Merseyside previously reported 53 were injured in the Southport disorder last Tuesday