Man jailed for shouting at police dog and racist slurs

A father of three who shouted at a police dog and used racist slurs has been jailed for 20 months for violent disorder.

Bradley McCarthy was sentenced on Tuesday after he was caught on video “threatening” left-wing protesters at an anti-immigration rally in Bristol.

Separately, more people were jailed for their role in riots targeting a hotel housing asylum seekers, which was set alight and police hit by bricks and bottles.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says 494 people have so far been charged in relation to the weeks-long unrest that broke out in England and Northern Ireland after a fatal stabbing attack in Southport in which three young girls died.

McCarthy, 34, had joined an anti-immigration march in Bristol which clashed with counter-protesters and police in Castle Park and on Bristol Bridge on 3 August.

Bristol Crown Court heard he played a “prominent” role in trying to goad police, and had “aggressively” shouted at a police dog.

“You did all this in a tinderbox atmosphere where it only takes the actions of one person to spark very serious group violence,” Judge Julian Lambert said.

McCarthy admitted violent disorder at a previous hearing. He has convictions for violence, weapons offences and public order.

Others were jailed for their actions during a riot that broke out outside a Rotherham hotel housing asylum seekers on 4 August.

Apprentice bricklayer Alfie Conway, 19, from Pontefract, was jailed for two years and three months at Sheffield Crown Court.

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder after throwing missiles at police who were protecting the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers.

Lee Crisp, 42, was jailed for “actively encouraging” people who had gathered outside the hotel.

The factory worker told officers they should be “ashamed of themselves,” shouted “let’s go toe to toe” and made racist comments.

He was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment and made subject of a criminal behaviour order for 10 years.

Crisp had previously claimed he accidentally got caught up in the riot when taking his mother for Sunday lunch.

Craig Timbrell, 38, of Hartcliffe, appeared at Bristol Crown Court, charged with violent disorder over his “prominent role” in the unrest.

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder after throwing concrete blocks, bricks and bottles at police near the hotel.

Emily Evans, defending, said Timbrell, of Hartcliffe, had been planning on attending a ticketed social event in the city centre with friends, but had been unable to gain entry and “couldn’t really explain” why he threw missiles at the police.

But Judge Lambert said the violence he had shown was “intense and shocking” and sentenced him to two years and six months in prison.

Liam Gray, 20, from Mexborough in Doncaster, was filmed aggressively pushing against a line of officers who were trying to disperse the 400-strong crowd at the Holiday Inn Express, in Rotherham.

He pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was sentenced to three years in a young offender institution and made the subject of a criminal behaviour order for 10 years.

Ed Moss, defending, said his client’s family had been shocked when they learned of his involvement in the riot, adding: “Despite what it appears to everybody else, [they say] there isn’t a racist bone in his body.”

Meanwhile, roofer Alfie Arrowsmith, 28, was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment for his role in unrest on Whitehall, central London, on 31 July.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of violent disorder after being filmed repeatedly confronting police and shouting “come on then” and “let’s have it”.

Some 494 people have been charged with offences related to the recent public disorder as of Tuesday, the CPS said.

As more people continue to be sentenced, concerns remain about the shortage of prison places available.

Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens spoke to the BBC about Operation Early Dawn, which allows people to be held in police cells until prison space is freed up.

She said the measure would be “used for a matter of days or at the most months” because male prisons in some places were 99% full.

Asked about the maximum amount of time someone would be held in a police cell, Stevens said: “We would anticipate that this should be no longer than a day after being charged. That’s the basis on which we are working.”

On Tuesday, King Charles travelled to Southport to meet survivors of the Southport knife attack.

He visited the town hall where tributes had been left outside in memory of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, who were murdered in the attack.

The children were attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class when the alleged attacker entered the building and stabbed them.

Axel Rudakubana, who was aged 17 at the time, has been charged with murder and attempted murder. A motive for the attack has not been given, but it is not being treated as terror-related, police have said.