Facebook pair jailed for four years over northern riot that never was

But the sentences brought a warning from penal reform campaigners today that the rush to send out a message in the wake of the riots was leading to “some very bad sentences”.

The Howard League for Penal Reform warned against judges and magistrates handing out “disproportionate sentences”.

The Crown Prosecution Service defended the tough punishments, saying the web pages caused “significant panic and revulsion” to the people of Cheshire.

Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, appeared at Chester Crown Court yesterday after police discovered Facebook pages created by the men which urged rioting in their home towns.

But Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns for the Howard League, said: “The rush to send a message out is leading to some very bad sentences, which will be overturned on appeal.

“It will be a further drag on the court system, which is already struggling - and that’s before considering the pressures on the prison system.”

He went on: “It’s understandable that the courts are being asked to treat the public disturbances as an aggravating factor.

“However, I think what’s not being borne in mind is another key principle of the justice system - that of proportionality.

“Sentences should reflect the seriousness of the offence.

“In the Facebook case, we’re talking about four years’ jail which would normally be associated with serious and violent offences.

“But in this case the police closed down the pages and it’s very unclear the extent to which these were organising something or whether it was two young men putting stupid messages on Facebook.”

Martin McRobb, Crown Advocate for CPS Merseyside and Cheshire, said the pages caused “significant panic and revulsion” to the people of Cheshire.

“Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe independently and from the safety of their homes may have thought that it would be acceptable to set up a Facebook page to incite others to take part in disorders in Cheshire,” he said.

“They were wrong. They both used Facebook to organise and orchestrate serious disorder at a time when such incidents were taking place in other parts of the country.”

Blackshaw, of Northwich, Cheshire, set up an event entitled “Smash Down Northwich Town”, and Sutcliffe-Keenan, of Warrington, created the page “Let’s Have a Riot in Latchford”.

Both men pleaded guilty to intentionally encouraging another to assist the commission of an indictable offence under Sections 44 and 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Neither Blackshaw nor Sutcliffe-Keenan were accused of rioting or looting themselves, yet the pair were given the lengthiest sentences so far in relation to the nationwide disorder.

Tough sentences were also handed out to three looters at Manchester Crown Court yesterday. They were among the first sent to jail by the Crown Courts for taking part in the mayhem which wreaked havoc on the streets last week.

Judge Andrew Gilbart, Recorder of Manchester, told the defendants the “outbursts” of criminal behaviour like the looting and rioting “must be met with sentences longer” than if they were committed in isolation.

David Beswick, 31, Stephen Carter, 26, both from Salford, and Michael Gillespie-Doyle, 18, from Tameside, all pleaded guilty at earlier hearings at Manchester Magistrates’ Court to a variety of offences during the “unprecedented” large-scale disorder, the court heard.

The maximum sentence of six months in jail was deemed not long enough by the lower courts and their cases were fast-tracked to Manchester Crown Court.

The long sentences which have begun to be given out by courts in riot-affected towns and cities have raised concern among civil rights groups.

The sentences came as the Home Secretary said no-go areas could be brought in to clear the streets in a bid to give police the powers they need to tackle future riots.

Theresa May said yesterday that she was considering whether more general curfew powers were needed to help prevent a repeat of last week’s violence.

Victims will also be given the chance to speak out as ministers said the Government would be establishing an independent communities and victims panel to ensure those caught up in the trouble “can have their voice heard”.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also said looters will be forced to wear orange suits and help to clean up areas hit by the disturbances as part of “riot payback schemes”.

But the tough prison sentences handed down for attempting to organise riots were welcomed by Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.

“We need to understand that people for a while thought that this was a crime without consequence,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“We cannot have people being frightened in their beds, frightened in their own homes, for their public safety.

“That’s why these kind of exemplary sentences are necessary and I think the public would be rightly alarmed if that incitement to riot got off with just a slap on the wrist.”

On Monday, senior judges denied that courts had been told to jail anyone convicted of being involved in last week’s riots.

The Judicial Office said no directive had been issued and judges must consider many factors, including the punishment of offenders, the need to deter others and the need to protect the public, before passing sentence.

The statement followed reports that judges and magistrates had been told to give anyone involved in the rioting a custodial sentence.

Earlier, lawyers at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court in south east London were reportedly told that magistrates had been asked to hand down a custodial sentence to anyone involved in the rioting.

But the Criminal Justice Alliance, which represents around 60 organisations, warned that simply jailing youngsters over their role in the riots risked turning opportunistic looters into hardened criminals.

The Ministry of Justice said custody was used for the most serious or persistent young offenders where it was necessary to protect the public.

Meanwhile, the Foot Locker store in Brixton, south London, which was torched during the riots on August 8, was again set alight in a suspected arson attack last night.

But Scotland Yard reassured the community that it was an isolated incident and unrelated to the riots.

Cheshire Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson also welcomed the prison sentences.

“What it does is give a very clear signal in terms of the deterrent effect that anybody who plans, incites, tries to get people to act in this way, does so with a significant risk to their liberty,” he told the Today programme.

“These two people were ringleaders. If they had succeeded in their criminal intention many other people would have engaged in crime.

“How many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of pounds worth of damage would have been caused if their intentions had been carried through? Not just damage to property, potential damage to life.

“What this clearly does is signpost to people who may be of criminal intent that there will be a consequence for them. If this prevents other people acting in this way, yes, it does its job.”

However, Paul Mendelle QC, a former chair of the Criminal Bar Association, expressed concern that the courts were failing to heed guideline sentences laid down by the Court of Appeal.

“It appears that the courts are being urged to ignore those guidelines and somehow to throw the rule book out of the window and ramp up sentences. I find that unsettling and potentially unjust,” he said.

“It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied, but justice rushed can be justice denied as well.”

Sally Ireland, director of criminal justice policy at the Justice campaign group, said several cases appeared “very much outside the normal range”.

She pointed to the case of 23-year-old college student Nicolas Robinson who, despite having no criminal record, was jailed for six months on Thursday for stealing a £3.50 case of bottled water from a Lidl supermarket in Brixton during a night of rioting.

District Judge Alan Baldwin, sitting at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court, said the background of “serious public disorder” was an aggravating feature as he jailed Robinson, of Borough, south east London.

Ms Ireland said: “We shouldn’t be seeing people sentenced out of all proportion to their offending in order to in some way make an example out of them.

“It can compromise confidence in the justice system.”

She went on: “The magistrates must be free to sentence in individual cases but the law says sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the sentencer is satisfied it’s not in the interests of justice to do so.

“That’s quite a high test.

“What we don’t want is sentences that are out of all proportion with sentences for similar offences.”