Four men facing jail after violence outside asylum seeker hotel
Thomas Mills collapsed at Liverpool Crown Court after he was found guilty, along with Brian McPadden, Paul Lafferty and Jonjo O’Donoghue.
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Four men who were convicted of violent disorder following a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers are likely to face prison sentences, a judge has warned.
Thomas Mills, 47, sobbed and collapsed in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday after he was found guilty of violent disorder, along with co-defendants Brian McPadden, 61, Paul Lafferty, 42, and Jonjo O’Donoghue, 21.
The defendants had all admitted being present at a demonstration outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley, Merseyside, on February 10 last year but denied being part of the violence which resulted in three police officers being injured and a police van being set alight.
A fifth defendant, Daniel Fulham, 39, who told the court he was in the area walking his Jack Russell dog, was found not guilty of violent disorder and of a lesser offence of abusive or threatening behaviour with intent to provoke violence.
The court was adjourned after the verdicts were returned so medical assistance could be given to Mills, who had suffered seizures in the dock twice during the two-week trial.
When the court resumed, after Mills left with paramedics, judge Denis Watson KC ordered pre-sentence reports for the defendants.
Granting them bail until the sentencing hearing, on a date to be fixed, he said: “This is a serious offence and the likelihood is that there will be sentences of immediate custody, but I will not pre-judge things until I know rather more about your background.”
Police were made aware on February 9 last year that a protest, said to have been organised by the English Defence League (EDL), was expected to take place outside the hotel, which was providing temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, the following day.
There was “ill-feeling” in the local area after a video was shared on social media appearing to show an asylum seeker from the hotel asking a 15-year-old girl for her phone number and a kiss, the court heard.
The jury was told social media posts were made about the planned demonstration and leaflets were delivered.
On the Friday evening, members of a right-wing group and a left-wing group gathered outside the hotel on the outskirts of Kirkby.
Detective Constable David Williams, of Merseyside Police, told the court that a large group of people had arrived at the scene on foot at around 7pm.
He said: “At that time it seemed that tensions changed somewhat.”
Footage showed crowds chanting “Get them out” and throwing fireworks at a cordon of police officers, as a police van burned.
Rocks and paving slabs were also thrown, with one police officer needing hospital treatment and another two suffering less serious injuries.
Mills could be seen in footage, standing on top of the van before it was set alight and holding a banner which said: “Let’s shout, get them out.”
McPadden was heard in the footage saying: “We protect our own, youse are not from Kirkby, we are. These are twats, the lot of them.”
There was no evidence that any of the defendants were members of a far-right group.
The four defendants, all from Kirkby, Merseyside, apart from O’Donoghue, who is from Liverpool city centre, will be sentenced along with five other men who pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to violent disorder.
Seven youths, aged between 13 and 17, have already been sentenced after they admitted violent disorder.
Six were given referral orders and one was fined.
Jared Skeete, 19, was sentenced to three years’ detention last April after he pleaded guilty to violent disorder, having thrown fireworks and snorted ketamine while shouting abuse at police.
Three women – Cheryl Nicholls, 44, Nicola Elliott, 52, and Jennifer Knox, 41 – were found not guilty of violent disorder halfway through the trial following a direction to the jury from the judge, who said there was “insufficient evidence”.