A father-of-two who fashioned a dog lead into a makeshift knuckleduster and a man who chased officers with a traffic cone were among five people jailed after a violent protest in Southampton that a judge branded a hate crime “borne out of a hatred for police and in some part racist views.”
Daniel Frost, 44, was sentenced to two years and four months for violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon after he threw chairs from a garden into the road and wrapped a rope with a metal carabiner around his hand, telling officers it would take four of them to remove it and that “these lot will f*** you right up.” Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told Southampton Crown Court that Frost had 25 previous convictions for 55 offences, including a six-year sentence for robbery and GBH.
“Five men jailed for violent disorder at a protest over Henry Nowak's murder, which a judge called a hate crime.”
Dillon Crawford, 29, of Southampton, who “enthusiastically and aggressively pushed his way to the front of the crowd” before throwing projectiles including a bin and a metal item at police, was jailed for three years. Taylor Grundy, 22, of Gosport, received two years and six months after throwing a plank of wood at officers and helping push a large commercial bin that had been set alight towards the police cordon.
Andrew Summerhayes, 38, of Romsey, was sentenced to three years and two months for violent disorder and two weapons offences after he chased down police officers who were trying to escape the violence, first with a large bin and then with a traffic cone. Reece Robinson, 21, of Havant, was jailed for two years for throwing two stones or small bricks during the protest in the Portswood area on June 2.
The unrest followed the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak and centred on the police handling of the case. Judge William Mousley KC said: “The impact on the community was profound, local residents were subjected to fear, distress and a genuine sense of danger.”
Linsley said that after his arrest, Frost described the disorder as “a big party” and called one of the interviewing officers “a gaslighting bitch.”