Facebook cases trigger criticism of ‘disproportionate’ riot sentences

Two men jailed for four years for posting messages inciting riots although no trouble resulted from them Criticism is growing of the sentences imposed on some convicted rioters after two men were jailed for four years for posting messages on Facebook inciting other people to create disorder in their home towns. A cabinet minister defended the tough sentencing approach, but a senior Liberal Democrat accused the courts of seeking retribution. Jordan Blackshaw, 20, from Northwich Town, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Latchford, Warrington, were sentenced at Chester crown court after admitting using the social networking site to try to arrange riots. No trouble resulted from their actions. The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme on Wednesday that it would be wrong if people “got off with just a slap on the wrist” for incitement to riot. But, in a sign of tension within the coalition government, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, Tom Brake, told BBC2′s Newsnight that people were receiving sentences and “if they had committed the same offence the day before the riots, they would not have received a sentence of that nature”. “This should be about restorative justice … it should not be about retribution,” he said. Defence lawyers and civil rights groups have also criticised “disproportionate” sentences as official figures show nearly 1,300 suspects have been brought before the courts. Andrew Neilson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told the Times it was “fair enough” that the public disturbances were seen as an aggravating factor but added: “There seems to be a complete lack of proportionality to some of the sentences. These make a mockery of proportionality, which is a key principle of the justice system.” The revelation that magistrates were advised by justices’ clerks to disregard normal sentencing guidelines when dealing with riot-related cases has alarmed some lawyers, who warn it will trigger a spate of appeals. Sally Ireland, policy director of the law reform organisation Justice, said: “Some instances are completely out of all proportion. There will be a flurry of appeals although, by the time they have been heard, those sentences may already have been served. There’s a question about this advice [from justices' clerks] and whether it should have been issued at all. We would expect them to be giving advice [to magistrates] in individual cases rather than following a general directive.” Rakesh Bhasin, a solicitor partner at the law firm Steel & Shamash, which represents some of those charged following the riots, said some sentences seemed to be disproportionate. Pickles said: “With regards to sentences, I think we need to understand that people for a while thought that this was a crime without consequence. We cannot have people being frightened in their beds, frightened in their own homes for their public safety. “And that’s why these kind of exemplary sentences are necessary and I think the public would be rightly alarmed if that incitement to riot got off with just a slap on the wrist.” Blackshaw set up an “event” called Smash Down in Northwich Town for the night of 8 August on Facebook but no one apart from the police, who were monitoring the page, turned up at the meeting point outside a McDonald’s restaurant. Blackshaw was promptly arrested. Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, used his Facebook account in the early hours of 9 August to design a web page titled The Warrington Riots. The court was told it caused a wave of panic in the town. When he woke up the next morning with a hangover, he removed the page and apologised, saying it had been a joke. His message was distributed to 400 Facebook contacts, but no rioting broke out as a result. Judge Elgan Edwards sentenced Blackshaw to four years in a young offenders institution and said he had committed an evil act. “This happened at a time when collective insanity gripped the nation. Your conduct was quite disgraceful and the title of the message you posted on Facebook chills the blood. “You sought to take advantage of crime elsewhere and transpose it to the peaceful streets of Northwich.” Sutcliffe-Keenan, the judge said, “caused a very real panic” and put a considerable strain on police resources in Warrington. The Crown Prosecution Service said the men’s Facebook posts caused significant panic and revulsion in local communities as rumours of anticipated violence spread. “While the judge heard the two defendants were previously of good character, they admitted committing very serious offences that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years,” it said. “The consequence of their actions could have led to more disorder and this was taken into account.” A looter who helped himself to an ice-cream cone during the disturbances was warned on Tuesday that he could be jailed. Anderson Fernandes, 22, appeared before magistrates in Manchester charged with burglary after he took two scoops of coffee ice-cream and a cone from Patisserie Valerie in the city centre. He gave the cone away because he didn’t like the flavour. Fernandes admitted burglary in relation to the ice-cream and an unconnected charge of handling stolen goods after a vacuum cleaner was recovered from his home. District judge Jonathan Taaffe said: “I have a public duty to deal swiftly and harshly with matters of this nature.” Fernandes will be sentenced next week. In sentencing four other convicted Manchester rioters, a crown court judge, Andrew Gilbert QC, made clear why he was disregarding sentencing guidelines when he said “the offences of the night of 9 August … takes them completely outside the usual context of criminality”. He added: “The principal purpose is that the courts should show that outbursts of criminal behaviour like this will be and must be met with sentences longer than they would be if the offences had been committed in isolation. For those reasons, I consider that the sentencing guidelines for specific offences are of much less weight in the context of the current case, and can properly be departed from.” The Ministry of Justice’s latest estimate, at midday on Tuesday, shows the courts have dealt with 1,277 alleged offenders of whom more than 700 have been remanded in custody. Two-thirds of the cases were in London. By midday on Monday, 115 people had been convicted. More than three-quarters of those were adults. About 21% of those appearing before the courts have been juveniles. Paul Mendelle QC, a former chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, said: “The idea that the rulebook goes out the window strikes me as inherently unjust. It sets all manner of alarm bells ringing. Guidelines are not tramlines. There are guidelines and they take account of aggravating and mitigating circumstances. “There have been rulings following the Bradford riots and Israeli embassy demonstrations that said which sort of guidelines should be followed. I don’t see why [magistrates] should be told to disregard these.” The judiciary and the Ministry of Justice have denied that they were involved in circulating the advice to justices’ clerk last week. UK riots Crime UK criminal justice Prisons and probation Youth justice Young people Owen Bowcott Haroon Siddique Andrew Sparrow guardian.co.uk

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