Teesside teenager has Middlesbrough Riot sentence altered in Court of Appeal ruling
A Hartlepool teenager will be released from prison - after his sentence was suspended at the court of appeal
A Hartlepool teenager, jailed over the Teesside riots this summer, will have his sentenced altered - after a Court of appeal ruling.
4 men had all appealed their prison sentences, all between 10 months and 2 years 10 months, for their roles in the disorder which broke out across the country earlier this year.
One of them was Dylan Willis, who was 18 at the time, and originally jailed for 14 months for violent disorder - after smashing a window at a Middlesbrough restaurant in August.
At the Court of Appeal on Thursday, judges were told that each of the 4 men's sentences were "harsh" and "manifestly excessive" and should be reduced in what are thought to be the first appeals related to the summer unrest.
And in their ruling, three judges quashed Willis' original sentence of 14 months' detention for violent disorder.
His sentence was changed to 14 months in a young offenders institution, suspended for two years, with up to 40 days of rehabilitation activity.
Mr Justice Bennathan, sitting with the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr and Lord Justice Holroyde, said:
We have concluded that this court should interfere with the decision below."
Willis, appearing via video link from Holme House prison, appeared emotional as the decision was read out.
Baroness Carr said the disorder earlier this year was "fuelled by misinformation and far right sentiment, spreading to various towns and cities across the nation".
She added: "In the context of widespread and significant public disorder, it is not only the precise individual acts of an offender that matter.
"It is the fact that the offender is taking part in violent disorder, threatening violence against other people or property, and is part and parcel of widespread threatening and alarming activity.
"That is the gravamen of the offending: being one of those who, by weight of numbers, pursues a common and unlawful purpose.
"Thus, whilst what an individual offender may have done themselves is of relevance, their acts must not be taken in isolation."
The Crown Prosecution Service responded to the appeals.
Duncan Atkinson KC, for the body, said that each of the sentencing judges took the correct approach.
He said: "Whilst context is not everything, it is extremely important to sentencing in cases such as this.
"Each of these offenders in their different ways were sentenced for participating in different ways."
The barrister added: "It is clear that each of the judges was aware they had to assess the incident and its impact before going on to assess the role of the individual."