Colin Stonehouse and David Kirkbride: Pair who joined Tamworth hotel protests following Southport stabbings jailed for 21 months
A pair who joined a protest outside a hotel housing asylum seekers after the Southport stabbings have each been jailed for 21 months.
Colin Stonehouse, 36, had his head in his hands while David Kirkbride, 28, wiped away tears as they were sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday.
The pair, who live together in Wilnecote, Tamworth, had both earlier pleaded guilty to violent disorder after attending demonstrations outside the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, Staffordshire, last year.
Rioters smashed windows and started fires at the hotel on 4 August as part of a series of riots and unrest that broke out at a number of locations following the Southport stabbings.
The crowd of hundreds which gathered at the Holiday Inn Express caused nearly £100,000 worth of damage to the hotel.
The aftermath of the disorder outside the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth. Pic: PA
Prosecutor Daniel Moore told Stafford Crown Court on Thursday that Stonehouse and Kirkbride had arrived at the building at around 6.30pm.
CCTV and police body-worn camera footage of the crowd captured Stonehouse shouting abuse at police and raising his arms while Kirkbride held him back.
Mr Moore said the pair were “actively encouraging people to move forward” towards the police and Kirkbride was seen laughing as a firework exploded.
Stonehouse was also heard to have shouted “we ain’t paying for them dickheads in there”.
During their arrest, Stonehouse told police he wanted to express that he was “unhappy” about taxes being spent on asylum seekers, but claimed he left when a hotel window was smashed and a firework was lit.
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Mark Moore, defending the pair, said they “have both had four long months in custody awaiting their fate” and “made a stupid decision”.
Stonehouse and Kirkbridge were both handed a 21-month sentence in custody, of which they must serve at least half, and a criminal behaviour order banning them from going to establishments they believe house asylum seekers.
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Sentencing, Judge John Edwards said: “Whilst your individual roles weren’t the most serious that I have encountered, it would be wrong and misleading to look at your acts in a vacuum because violence feeds on itself.
“This was planned and coordinated conduct and you were both part of it. There must be a clear message that any involvement in violence of this nature cannot be tolerated.”
Disorder broke out across the UK after the deaths of three girls who were stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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