A man who was the first person in the UK to be convicted of a charge of riot after widespread disorder this summer has been jailed for four years and four months.
Kieran Usher, 32, from Hendon in Sunderland, was jailed at Newcastle crown court after previously pleading guilty.
He was filmed among a group of at least 20 people who were working together “to rain missiles on to attending police officers” during a night of violence in Sunderland on 2 August, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Wearing a mask and a union flag, Usher had encouraged others to participate in violence, and threw missiles at police from close range. He had played “a leading role escalating the disorder”, the court heard.
Judge Tim Gittins told Usher, who was appearing by video link from Durham prison, he was “at the forefront of a crowd” made from various groups who gathered in Keel Square that afternoon.
The charge of riot carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Hundreds of people have appeared before the courts on the lesser charge of violent disorder.
After he pleaded guilty this month, Christopher Atkinson, the head of the complex casework unit for CPS North East, said: “It is clear from the evidence in this case that Usher played an active role in the mob violence that unfolded on the streets of Sunderland.
“He was filmed working with a group of at least 20 other people to rain missiles on to attending police officers. The coordinated and unlawful violence carried out by the group in this incident, the severity of which forced police to temporarily retreat from the assault, made a charge of riot wholly appropriate in this case.”
Up to 700 people were involved in the night of disorder in Sunderland, with police officers subjected to serious and sustained violence.
Sentencing Usher, who has learning disabilities, Gittins took into account that he made full admissions to police and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
Sophie Allinson-Howells, for the defence, said he was not affiliated with the far right, and had worn the flag to fit in with others who were in attendance on the night.
“Tying the union jack to himself is best described as an attempt to fit in with a bunch of peers who were there,” she said.
The judge said “right-thinking members of the community in which you live were left shocked, distressed and in fear” by the violence.
“From the outset, you were drinking and using your phone to film, Gittins said. “You then draped yourself in a union flag. Your acts while carrying that flag bring shame to it.”
