Five detained for Hartlepool 'violent mob' police attacks (2024)

Five men, including a teenager celebrating his 18th birthday and a couple who had been at the bingo, have been detained for violent confrontations with police during a protest.

A "violent mob" of up to 200 people, some of whom were carrying England flags and shouting racial slurs, took to the streets of Hartlepool on 31 July, Teesside Crown Court heard.

The protest was organised to target the homes of asylum seekers and there was widespread damage and multiple police officers were injured, prosecutors said.

Three men were jailed for more than two years each and two teenagers, aged 18 and 19, detained in young offender institutions (YOI) after admitting violent disorder.

Prosecutor Rachel Masters said social media posts circulated on the morning of 31 July listing addresses in Hartlepool said to house asylum seekers.

She said the tenor of the posts was to "encourage members of the public to attend a preorganised protest".

Ms Masters said a large group gathered and by 20:00 the "protest had begun to turn violent".

She said the group clashed with police officers on Murray Street and Steven Mailen, 54 and of Arch Court, was one of the "main instigators" of the violence.

She told the court he spent more than 10 minutes shouting and gesturing at a line of officers and attempted to "incite the crowd to use violence".

Police were pelted with bottles, bricks and cans of beer. Eight officers were injured including two who required hospital treatment, the prosecutor said.

Ms Masters said Mailen ignored repeated demands to leave and was struck in the leg by an officer with an extendable baton.

That prompted his partner, 29-year-old Ryan Sheers, to approach police, with footage showing him shouting at officers not to touch him and that he "paid [their] wages".

A police dog then bit Sheers, of Powlett Road, on the buttocks and both he and Mailen were arrested.

Ms Masters said it took at least five officers to restrain Mailen, who the court heard used to be a school governor and postmaster and had never been in trouble with the law before.

He later told officers he and Sheers had been at bingo during the afternoon and came across the gathering when they went out to buy more drink.

Both men told police they had been "cheeky" to officers and were sorry.

In mitigation for the pair, Nigel Soppitt said neither man knew the protest was planned and had encountered it by chance.

Mr Soppitt said the pair "despised" far right ideology and, as gay men in Hartlepool, had suffered and called out prejudice all their lives.

He said both were drunk having spent a day at the bingo and Mailen realised now he should have left as ordered, while Sheers played a lesser role and only confronted police after he saw his partner being struck with a baton, causing a "red mist" to descend.

They were each jailed for two years and two months.

Meanwhile, Kieron Gatenby, 19, and Bobby Shirbon, who turned 18 on the day of the protests, were part of a group "shouting racial slurs and the word 'Tommy'" while throwing missiles including wooden planks and glass bottles at police at about 22:30, Ms Masters said.

She said both Gatenby, of Yeovil Walk, and Shirbon, of Cornwall Street, were seen smashing house windows.

In his police interview, Gatenby said he threw an egg after coming across the protest while going to visit his girlfriend, but "denied having any racist beliefs".

In mitigation, Calum McNicholas said Gatenby "saw something kicking off and decided to get involved" and he was now "disgusted" at himself.

Gatenby was detained for 16 months at a YOI.

Shirbon, who was arrested the following day after throwing a beer bottle at a police vehicle, told officers it was "ok" as "everyone else [was] doing it".

His barrister, Michael Cahill, said Shirbon had been out celebrating his birthday and "foolishly went to see what was going on".

Shirbon was detained for 20 months at a YOI.

A fifth defendant, 30-year-old Carl Holliday of Tankerville Street, threw several large metal sheets at police while aggressively shouting and swearing at officers over a 30-minute period, Ms Masters said.

In mitigation, Duncan McReddie said Holliday had been a "chronic alcoholic" since the age of 15 and on 31 July he had drunk about 30 cans of lager when he "heard a commotion" several streets away.

Mr McReddie said Holliday was a "drunken fool" who "joined in" with the mob, but he held no "racist" or "extreme political views" at all.

Holliday was jailed for two years and eight months.

Judge Francis Laird KC said the men's behaviour had been "truly disgraceful" and they were part of a "violent mob" which wrought "devastation and chaos".

He also said he accepted the men had "no racist or ideological motives" for their violence, but the public were "rightly outraged" by their "behaviour on the streets of our country".

In a statement read to the court, Cleveland Police Chief Constable Mark Webster said the violent protests which hit Hartlepool and Middlesbrough had an "immense impact" on the public and the force.

He said: "People genuinely fear for their own safety in communities they have lived in their whole lives."

Mr Webster said officers facing aggression was part of the job, but the "level of hatred and violence" during the protests had been unprecedented and there had been "determined efforts to seriously injure officers".

Detectives were now investigating 150 crimes linked to the protests, said the chief constable who estimated the cost of damage to police equipment, including 14 vehicles, at more than £300,000.

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