A man who wore a “dad number 1” England football shirt as he led an “angry and intimidating” mob through Blackpool during a wave of violent disorder across the nation has been jailed.
Roger Haywood encouraged a group to follow him to various locations around the seaside resort town, including the Cenotaph and the Tower, on 3 August, a court heard.
Haywood repeatedly verbally abused officers while the area was busy with families, said Lancashire Police, adding he assaulted officers during his arrest.
The 41-year-old was part of a group which confronted police in a shopping area during the unrest.
Haywood’s involvement included attempting to pull the shutters up of a store and assaulting a member of a security team, Preston Crown Court was told.
He was jailed for 30 months on Friday after previously pleading guilty to two counts of assaulting an emergency worker and violent disorder.
A video posted on social media by Lancashire Police shows the man wearing an England shirt – with “Dad 1” on the back – while being arrested.
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He was also filmed telling a police officer: “I promise you – look at them here [pointing to a crowd behind]. There’s 10-to-one. We’ll overrun you, easy.”
Haywood was seen at the forefront of “an ugly and intimidating scene” alongside a man who pushed a sign over, and another person who was carrying a chair and hit out at a rope barrier as another kicked at it, the court heard.
Judge Robert Altham told Haywood: “You repeatedly approached the police line, jabbing a finger at them and ignoring their many requests to move away.
“Next you were seen leading a large group down the promenade, some had flags and some had their faces covered.
“You were at the front with your hands above your head to beckon them on. You were clearly in the lead.”
Lancashire Police’s assistant chief constable Phil Davies welcomed his sentencing, saying: “Haywood not only chose to be violent himself, but he actively encouraged others to use violence too.”
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Forces across the country continue to pursue those alleged to have played a role in riots that rocked towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland in the wake of the fatal stabbings of three children in Southport.
According to the Ministry of Justice, a total of 460 people have appeared in magistrates’ courts on charges relating to the disorder as of Thursday 15 August.
At least 72 people under 18 years old are believed to have been charged, including a 13-year-old girl who pleaded guilty to threatening unlawful violence outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Aldershot, Hampshire.
Of those charged who are under the age of 18, the youngest so far are two 12-year-old boys, both of whom have pleaded guilty to the charge of violent disorder.
The oldest person to be charged so far is William Morgan, 69, of Walton in Liverpool.
