Couple who joined Hartlepool riots after bingo session each jailed for 26 months
Steven Mailen and Ryan Sheers were ‘at the very forefront of the mob’.
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A couple who became involved in riots after going to an afternoon bingo session and a teenager who joined while out celebrating his 18th birthday were among those sentenced over disturbances in Hartlepool.
Steven Mailen, 54, and his partner Ryan Sheers, 29, were each jailed for two years and two months after ending up “at the very forefront of the mob”.
Mailen, of Arch Street, Hartlepool, was described as “one of the main instigators” of a large-scale disturbance on Murray Street while Sheers, of Powlett Road, Hartlepool, was bitten on the hip by a police dog during the incident.
The pair, neither of whom has any previous convictions, pleaded guilty to violent disorder after about 200 people gathered in the town on July 31.
Teesside Crown Court heard Mailen and Sheers had been at bingo together in the afternoon and continued drinking at home.
They told police they came upon the disturbance on the way to the shop to buy more alcohol and ended up being “at the very forefront of the mob”.
Rachel Masters, prosecuting, said that over 10 minutes Mailen “taunted” police and appeared to be “inciting the gathered crowd to use violence towards them”.
Both Mailen and Sheers attempted to push through a police cordon, it was said.
At one point Mailen approached an officer and “gesticulated towards him, shouting abuse at him” until he was struck on the leg by an officer’s extendable baton.
Sheers, who one officer described as “particularly violent”, was bitten by a police dog “in the right hip/buttock area”.
Ms Masters said Mailen made an attempt to grab the dog or dog handler, and when an officer tried to detain him grabbed his radio and tucked it under his arm.
He was struck again with a baton and kicked the officer in the shins numerous times.
The court heard he continued to lash out as he was being arrested and it took three officers to get his arms behind his back and get the handcuffs on.
Nigel Soppitt, defending both men, said the behaviour was an “isolated activity” for them and they had expressed remorse.
The court heard Mailen is a former postmaster and school governor who, in the past, has “called out prejudice of all kinds”.
Bobby Shirbon, of Cornwall Street, Hartlepool, was detained for 20 months after taking part in two consecutive nights of disorder in the town.
He was seen smashing windows during violent scenes on July 31 – the day he turned 18 – while part of a group that was throwing bricks and bottles at police.
The defendant then threw beer bottles at a police van while wearing a balaclava the following night as part of further disorder involving a smaller group of youths.
Shirbon, who pleaded guilty to two charges of violent disorder, said “it’s okay, everybody else is doing it” when he was arrested, it was said.
Another teenager sentenced on Thursday was Kieron Gatenby, 19, who said he was not motivated by far right ideology and “got carried along” by the crowd.
Gatenby, 19, of Yeovil Walk, Hartlepool, was detained for 16 months after the court heard he was part of a group throwing missiles at police, and smashing the windows of houses, cars and shops while chanting racial slurs.
Gatenby, who has no previous convictions, was captured on bodyworn camera footage throwing an egg during the disorder.
The defendant was seen on his bike in the town the next day by an officer who recognised him, and was arrested.
Gatenby told police he had been going to his girlfriend’s house when he saw the police and wondered what was happening. He denied having any racist beliefs but admitted his behaviour was unacceptable.
Calum McNicholas, defending, said Gatenby’s actions were not motivated by a subscription to far right ideology.
He told the court: “He has three half-brothers who are mixed race and is disgusted in himself for getting involved with people who were chanting racial slurs.”
A statement from Cleveland Police chief constable Mark Webster said the riots had cost the region an estimated £300,000.
He said residents had been left “genuinely fearful for their own safety in the community they have lived in their whole lives”.
Judge Francis Laird KC told the defendants: “Your behaviour and the behaviour of others around you was truly disgraceful.”
He said: “There was large-scale damage to property and members of the public have been forced to endure the devastation and chaos caused to their community.
“The public are rightly outraged by this behaviour on the streets of this country.”
The fifth defendant to be sentenced was Carl Holliday, 30, of Tankerville Street, Hartlepool, who was jailed for two years and eight months after the court heard he “repeatedly threw metal sheeting” at police during the riot.
Duncan McReddie, defending Holliday, said he was a chronic alcoholic with no extreme political or racist views, but had heard the commotion while drinking a few streets away and “joined in”.