Violent riot thugs may resist 10 years in jail, CPS chief warns
The director of public prosecutions has reportedly warned the worst offending rioters causing chaos across Britain risk spending up to a decade behind bars.
Stephen Parkinson said while many of those who have been involved in disgraceful scenes linked to the far-right have been charged with violent disorder, harsher penalties may await the most egregious of thugs.
Many of those charged to date have faced the charge of violent disorder, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail. But Mr Parkinson is reported to be considering imposing charges of rioting, which can carry a sentence twice as long.
In remarks reported by a Sunday newspaper, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service said the number of people being charged was expected to soar, with a ‘new phase’ of cases set to include ‘more serious charges with stiffer penalties’.
Far-right hate mobs online are thought to be responsible for engineering the disorder that has hit British towns and cities in the wake of the Southport attacks on July 29 that left three young girls dead.
The head of the Crown Prosecution Service Stephen Parkinson (pictured) has warned rioters convicted of more serious offences face up to a decade behind bars
Hundreds of people have been arrested and scores convicted following riots in the wake of the Southport stabbings (pictured: police guard themselves from bricks in Liverpool)
Far-right protesters attack police in riot gear with wooden planks outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham
The scene of the attack at a community hall in Southport on July 29 in which three young girls died
(Left to right) Southport victims Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six and Alice Dasila Aguiar, nine
Axel Rudakubana, 18, pictured as a child, has been charged with their murders and the attempted murders of 10 others, as well as possession of an offensive weapon
More than 700 people have been arrested in connection with disturbances across the country, with scores already convicted after pleading guilty to a variety of offences at the first opportunity. Many of them have been jailed.
In remarks reported by the Sunday Times, Mr Parkinson said: ‘We warned of the consequences and we will deliver these consequences.
‘It’s not about exacting revenge, it’s about delivering justice.’
It comes as the parents of ‘precious’ six-year-old Bebe King, killed in the Southport attack, said their older daughter saw and escaped the stabbing.
Her mother and father Lauren and Ben King paid tribute to their daughter on Saturday, saying she ‘was full of joy, light and love’ and will remain in their hearts as a ‘sweet, kind and spirited girl’.
They said Bebe’s older sister Genie, nine, witnessed the attack and managed to escape, praising her ‘incredible strength and courage’.
Alice’s funeral will be held at St Patrick’s Church in Southport on Sunday afternoon.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, has been charged with the murder of the three girls in Merseyside.
He is also charged with the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes, and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.
The incident sparked nationwide disorder. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said 779 people have been arrested over rioting, of whom 349 have been charged.
The NPCC said specialist officers have been tasked with pursuing suspected online offenders and influencers, who they say are responsible for ‘spreading hate and inciting violence on a large scale’.
Across the country, teams are investigating ‘hundreds of leads’.
Thugs during a far-right anti-immigration protest in Rotherham on August 4 – thought to have been sparked by online hate mobs
A thousands-strong anti-racism protest in Walthamstow, where far-right thugs had reportedly intended to assemble outside an immigration office on Wednesday
A huge crowd of anti-racism protesters in Bristol on Wednesday – far outnumbering the hateful thugs who planned to protest
A protester gestures as he is surrounded by police in Brighton – where anti-racism counter-protesters turned out in numbers to see off far-right thugs
Mr Parkinson said online comments claiming Britain was operating a ‘two-tier’ justice system under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were not accurate
The director of public prosecutions said comments by Elon Musk (above) about the UK had been ‘deeply unhelpful’
But the hate mobs have been pushed back by thousands-strong anti-racist counter-protests, who have either vastly outnumbered those seeking to push an agenda of hate or scared them off from turning up at all.
Up to 100 far-right gatherings were planned for last Wednesday at the offices of immigration lawyers and asylum centres – and when few failed to show, figures online claimed the plan had been a ruse, or a joke not to be taken seriously.
Mr Parkinson said he hoped that those gatherings represented a ‘watershed’ moment – not least because it was also the day rioter Derek Drummond was handed a three-year sentence for punching a police officer in the face.
And he also had a rebuke to naysayers and far-right influencers – not to mention Elon Musk, founder of floundering social network X, formerly Twitter – who believe there has been so-called ‘soft touch’ policing towards anti-racism campaigners.
Musk has hopped on a bandwagon popularised among faceless X accounts and far-right online supremos by branding the Prime Minister – and Mr Parkinson’s predecessor – Sir Keir Starmer as ‘two-tier Keir’.
Baseless claims on social media have suggested the police and courts are giving anti-racism campaigners and Muslims free reign to run about with weapons – claims that have been denied by regional police forces.
Addressing the far-right’s claims directly, Mr Parkinson said: ‘I really don’t think there’s two-tier policing or two-tier justice.’ He added that some of Musk’s comments had been ‘deeply unhelpful’.
