Arrests stand at 60 over Staffordshire disorder

Sixty people have now been arrested over disorder that broke out in Tamworth and Stoke-on-Trent in the wake of killings of three young girls in Southport.

Staffordshire Police said on Tuesday it had also charged five more people over the violence in Stoke-on-Trent, bringing the total charged in relation to both matters to 23.

Meanwhile, seven people appeared before crown court judges on Tuesday in relation, charged with violent disorder and other offences.

The national unrest was sparked by online misinformation that the suspect in the fatal stabbings in Southport in July was a Muslim asylum seeker.

There were riots and anti-immigration protests in several towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland at the start of August.

During the unrest in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on 3 August, riot police were deployed and three officers were assaulted.

In Tamworth the next day, petrol bombs were thrown at a Holiday Inn Express hotel.

The police said the latest five people to be charged in connection with the Stoke-on-Trent unrest were:

• Andrew Townley, 45, of Hanley, charged with violent disorder and assault by beating of an emergency worker. He has been remanded in custody to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 10 September.
• James Fernandes, 29, of Shelton, charged with violent disorder and assault by beating of an emergency worker. He has been remanded in custody to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 6 September.
• Deana Evans, 32, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, charged with violent disorder and common assault of an emergency worker. She has been remanded in custody to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 30 August.
• Ashley Morris, 31, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, charged with violent disorder. He is due to appear at North Staffordshire Justice Centre on Tuesday.
• Ciaran Lockett, 34, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, charged with violent disorder. Mr Lockett has been remanded in custody to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 30 August.

Six people also appeared at Stafford Crown Court on Tuesday, in connection with the violence in Tamworth.

They were:

• Tommy McQuaker, 29, from Tamworth, charged with violent disorder and attacking a police dog.
• Aimee Hodgkinson-Hedgecox - previously noted as Holliwell - aged 37, from Rugeley, charged with violent disorder.
• Cameron Bell, 23, from Tamworth, charged with violent disorder.
• Simon Orr, from Tamworth, was charged with violent disorder and assaulting a police officer.
• Martin McCluskey, 60, from Tamworth, charged with violent disorder and two charges of assaulting police officers. Case adjourned until 17 September. Remanded in custody.
• Kyle Barber, 24, from Tamworth, charged with violent disorder.

All six will next appear at Stafford Crown Court on 17 September.

Ms Bell and Mr Barber both pleaded not guilty at earlier hearings at Cannock Magistrates Court.

Darren Woodley, 55, who has been charged with violent disorder, was due to appear in court but did not do so because of medical issues. His case was adjourned until 17 September.

Mitchell Cleaver, 25, from Burton on Trent, who has been charged with violent disorder, also did not appear in court and his case was adjourned until Friday.

The seventh person to appear in court on Tuesday was Tyler Marchese, 21, from Burslem, who appeared at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court charged with violent disorder and assault by beating of an emergency worker.

His charges refer to the unrest in Stoke-on-Trent and he was remanded in custody, ahead of his next hearing on 16 September.

Additional reporting by Richard Price.

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