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Rioter, 19, who stood on overturned car and looted fire extinguishers locked up

Riley Adey, 19, was part of a group that attacked police during a ‘protest that soon turned to widespread violence’ in Sunderland.

Katie Dickinson
Wednesday 14 August 2024 11:58 EDT
Riley Adey and Reece Greenwood were both jailed for their roles in rioting in Sunderland (Northumbria Police/PA)
Riley Adey and Reece Greenwood were both jailed for their roles in rioting in Sunderland (Northumbria Police/PA)

A teenager filmed waving from the top of an overturned car and a man who live-streamed himself shouting racial slurs have been locked up for their roles in riots in Sunderland.

Riley Adey, 19, was part of a group that attacked police during a “protest that soon turned to widespread violence” in the city on August 2.

He was filmed repeatedly throwing missiles at officers, including a vape, a brick and a scaffolding pole, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

He was also seen standing and waving on top of an upturned vehicle after it had been set alight and taking a fire extinguisher from a damaged building.

Prosecutor Omar Ahmad said stolen fire extinguishers were sprayed at officers, obscuring their vision, although there was no evidence Adey had been responsible for that.

Adey was sentenced to two years’ detention in a young offenders’ institution.

Father-to-be Reece Greenwood, who live-streamed himself “actively encouraging violent disorder” and “verbally abusing police” was jailed for two and a half years.

The 31-year-old shouted encouragement as others threw missiles at officers and could be heard shouting racist and Islamophobic slurs such as “f****** Muslim bastards” and “whose streets, our streets” – a phrase “synonymous with the English Defence League”, Mr Ahmad said.

The court heard scenes of people throwing rocks and readying beer kegs to throw seemed to buoy Greenwood, and he was heard laughing.

A judge said Greenwood, who also filmed a mob vandalising a police vehicle, was “revelling in the mayhem throughout”.

At one point he turned the camera on himself and said: “Who needs a f****** mask on, come on, let’s have it,” the court heard.

In messages recovered from his phone, Greenwood said he had washed and put away the clothes he had been wearing during the disorder so they couldn’t be recovered, it was said.

The court heard Greenwood was arrested at home in Washington five days later and said his friend Josh Kellett, who was jailed last week, picked him up and took him to the protest.

Asked during his police interview if he had committed any violent disorder, he said: “Well it’s on camera isn’t it.”

Greenwood and Kellett both pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

Shaun Routledge, defending Greenwood, said he was “completely and utterly ashamed of his behaviour” and his family members were “astonished”.

Andrew Findlay, representing Adey, said he had been “tearful” when discussing what had happened.

Sentencing both defendants on Wednesday, Judge Paul Sloan KC said they had “brought shame on the city” by taking part in an “orgy of mindless mindless, destructive violence”.

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