Two men have been jailed for their involvement in violent disorder in Southampton, an incident a judge branded a “hate crime” stemming from anti-police sentiment and racism.
The unrest saw officers surrounded by a “baying mob throwing projectiles” following the murder of Henry Nowak.
Daniel Frost, 44, a father-of-two from Southampton, received a sentence of two years and four months. He was convicted of violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon – a dog lead with a metal carabiner fashioned into a “makeshift knuckleduster”.
Reece Robinson, 21, of Havant, was also imprisoned for two years for violent disorder. He admitted throwing two stones or small bricks during the protest in the Portswood area on June 2.
At Southampton Crown Court, Judge William Mousley KC stated: “This violence was a hate crime borne out of a hatred for police and in some part racist views.”
He added: “The impact on the community was profound, local residents were subjected to fear, distress and genuine sense of danger.”
Siobhan Linsley, prosecuting, previously told the court that Frost was visible in police body-worn video shown to the court wearing a camouflage face-covering as he threw chairs from a garden into the road in front of the officers.
She said the defendant then “somewhat ostentatiously wraps the rope around his arm and the clip around his hand, forming what the observing officers feared to be a handmade knuckle duster”.
Ms Linsley added: “In response to hearing this, the defendant said it was a dog lead but repeatedly invited the officers to come and take it from him.
“He then told them that it will take four of them to remove it from him and that if they tried to do so ‘these lot will f*** you right up, come and get it’, referring to the crowd around him.”
Ms Linsley said that after he was arrested, Frost described the disorder as “a big party” and called one of the interviewing police officers “a gaslighting bitch”.
She said that Frost had 25 previous convictions for 55 offences, including a six-year sentence for robbery and GBH, weapons offences, public order offences and burglary offences.
Describing Robinson’s involvement, Ms Linsley said: “Mr Robinson was seen at the disorder on St Denys Road, he was topless with an orange high vis vest around his neck obscuring his face.
“He bent down to pick up small stones or bricks on two occasions and throws them towards the police cordon.”
She added that when Robinson, who has no previous convictions or cautions, was arrested, he told officers: “I didn’t really do much.”
