Two men jailed for violent disorder at protest following death of Henry Nowak
Leon O’Leary, 41, and Connor Bishop, 24, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Tuesday
Two men who threw a traffic cone and smoke grenade at police during disorder in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak have been jailed.
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Leon O’Leary, 41, and Connor Bishop, 24, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Tuesday, a day after pleading guilty to violent disorder at the city’s magistrates’ court.
It comes following a protest of around 1,000 people outside central Southampton police station at 6pm on June 2 to protest against the circumstances around Mr Nowak’s death and the actions of police.
Anger had erupted after police body-worn video was released showing Mr Nowak being placed in handcuffs moments before he became unconscious and subsequently died.
Protesters on June 2 included local people such as the defendants as well as attendance from leaders of Ukip and Britain First, the Portsmouth branch of the National Rebirth Party and others called to attend on social media by “far-right influencers” such as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the court heard.
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The court heard a smaller group of around 600 to 700 protesters then moved from the police station towards Belmont Road where the student Mr Nowak was fatally stabbed, and by 8pm the crowd was “increasingly aggressive”.
The disorder lasted around two-and-a-half hours with 12 police officers injured, mainly by being hit by bricks, and a police dog was assaulted with cuts to its legs.
O’Leary and Bishop were jailed for their parts played in the disorder described as a “mob” by Judge William Mousley KC, who said the incident “had a serious detrimental impact on community”.
“Individuals who were part of the violent crowd have the option to move away or even to leave the disorder and perhaps to encourage others to do the same or desist from violence,” he said.
“There was nothing to prevent them doing those things in this incident.”
Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley said that some of the protesters took items from people’s garden to use as projectiles such as bricks, chairs and bins to throw at police.
Ms Linsley said that at one point officers became surrounded and pursued by the protesters.
She said: “They are pursued effectively by a mob and that crowd are streaming through the road and people’s front gardens.
“They are actively pursuing the police through St Denys Road causing damage to police cars from the thrown projectiles.”
The court was shown video footage showing protesters pursuing officers and throwing chairs and other items at officers as well as kicking out at officers with riot shields as well as a group pushing an alight commercial bin on wheels at the police cordon.
She added: “From when the cordon was in place, the police were under almost constant assault.”
Ms Linsley said a local resident said in a statement that the incident was “truly awful”.
She added: “We felt trapped and couldn’t leave, I was concerned my young children would wake up and witness the events.”
Reading a statement from the British Transport Police officer brought in as part of the Police Support Unit (PSU) made up of specially trained riot officers from neighbouring forces, she said the officer said she had been hit by several items including bricks.
The officer said: “At this point we were surrounded, it was terrifying, I didn’t think we would get out alive or without serious injury.”
The officer added that in their 12 years of service, “I have never experienced such violence or hate towards police such as this”.
Footage shows O’Leary “walking casually” in the crowd in front of the police cordon when he spots a smoke grenade on the ground, picks it up and throws it towards police.
O’Leary also admitted and was sentenced for resisting a police officer and possession of an offensive weapon – a samurai sword in his bedroom, from when officers came to arrest him.
When officers went to arrest him at his home in Basingstoke at 3.30am on June 7, he adopted a “fighting stance” at the top of the stairs and threatened officers who had to use pava spray to subdue him for arrest.
From a search in his bedroom, officers also found the samurai sword, which O’Leary said he owned for 20 years as decorative only and he did not know the law had changed on owning one.
Meanwhile Connor Bishop, 24, from Southampton, was seen in footage wearing a black jumper with “boys get sad too” written on the back, carrying a yellow traffic cone which he threw towards officers.
In the video shown in court, other members of the crowd can be heard shouting ‘run you f****** pussies’.
The father is seen running with the cone, “pursuing officers for some time with it”, prosecutor, Siobhan Linsley told the court.
“Once it’s thrown he then follows it again, picks it up again,” she said.
When he was arrested on June 3 at his home address he answered no comment but then accepted he was there when shown footage.
He also admitted throwing a box of screws and punching a wall not captured on footage.
He told officers in interview he was brought up Christian and “threw items to fit into the crowd” and that he had drunk a small amount of beer “that made him more lairy”.
Defending Bishop, Thomas Evans said: “He is perhaps an example of peer pressure and group thinking”.
He said Bishop told him “I was just being a dick I wanted to fit in” and that he was “very sorry” to anyone who was hurt.
Mr Evans said of Bishop and O’Leary: “They are not the instigators of this disorder, they are inevitable result of other individuals who seek to harness anger.”
O’Leary was sentenced to three years and one month in prison for the three offences, and Bishop was jailed for two years and eight months.
Teenager Jordan Hambleton, 19, from Southampton, who threw a wheelie bin, traffic cone, metal chair leg and an e-scooter at police officers was also present in court but had his case adjourned by the judge to await a pre-sentence report due to his age and no previous convictions.
The court heard he was wearing a distinctive bucket hat throughout the disorder so he was able to be identified in his actions, which included standing on a bin shed and throwing down an e-scooter down to the line of officers.
When he was arrested on June 6 he replied: “I wasn’t even there,” before making no comment in police interview.
He will be sentenced at a later date.