Keir Starmer has told an emergency meeting police will remain on high alert, after a week of violent disorder sparked by the killing of three young girls in Southport 10 days ago.
The prime minister chaired the Cobra meeting of police chiefs, ministers and officials on Thursday evening as part of the government’s emergency crisis response – the third since unrest broke out.
Sir Keir said there was “no doubt” rapid sentencing as well as having police in the right places across the country had “acted as a deterrent” to prevent the further unrest that had been expected on Wednesday night.
Officials the BBC spoke to resisted the idea a corner had been turned.
Police had expected more than 100 events on Wednesday night, with 30 counter-demonstrations planned, but most of these did not materialise and those that did were largely peaceful.
Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, one of the UK’s most senior police officers, stressed there was no room for complacency as “many potential events are still being advertised and circulated online”.
Almost 6,000 extra public order officers mobilised earlier in the week remain in place.
Tough sentences will continue with maximum publicity to try to deter future violence, the BBC understands.
On Thursday, judges in Liverpool, Plymouth and Teesside, among other towns and cities, handed down sentences for violent disorder. There were 21 convictions on Thursday alone.
So far, 149 charges have been brought with police expecting the number to “rise significantly” as suspects are fast-tracked to appear in court.
More than 500 people have been arrested, and more than a quarter of those who have been charged are under the age of 21, the latest statistics show.
The mother of a teenager who faces charges for rioting told the BBC her son had been caught up in the crowd and should not be “made an example of”.
In sentencing to date:
- Former postmaster and school governor Steven Mailen, 54, and partner Ryan Sheers, 29, were each handed a prison sentence of two years and two months
- Kieron Gatenby, 19, was sentenced to 16 months’ in a young offender institution after being part of a group throwing missiles at police and smashing windows while chanting racial slurs
- Pensioner William Nelson Morgan, who is 69, was jailed for his part in unrest in which police were attacked and a library was set on fire in Liverpool
- Two brothers, Adam Wharton, 28, and Ellis Wharton, 22, who looted the library community hub set ablaze by rioters were also jailed
Thousands of anti-racism protesters have also rallied in cities and towns across England, in some cases clashing with groups of the far right.
In Walthamstow, video emerged online appearing to show a now-suspended Labour councillor telling a crowd that far-right demonstrators needed to have their throats cut.
On Thursday Ricky Jones was arrested on suspicion of encouraging murder.
The spate of violence is the worst the UK has experienced since 2011, when riots between 6 and 11 August across England saw looting and arson, as well as mass deployment of police and the deaths of five people.
On 29 July, a children’s Taylor Swift-themed holiday club was the target of a knife attack. Three young girls, Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar, were killed.
The seven days that followed, fuelled by misinformation online, the far right and anti-immigration sentiment, were filled with violent unrest.
Riots broke out across England, from Plymouth on the south coast to Sunderland in the North East. There were also riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Crowds were seen attacking mosques; accommodation housing asylum seekers, cars and buildings including a library were set on fire; and shops looted.
A number of police officers were injured, with more than 50 suffering broken bones, concussion, bruising and head wounds during a single incident at the Rotherham hotel riot.
