English Defence League member jailed for football fight

A prominent member of the English Defence League has been jailed for nine months for taking part in a pre-arranged “pitched battle” between football hooligans.
Joel Titus, 19, took part in the bloody brawl between Brentford and Leyton Orient supporters outside Liverpool Street station in central London in May last year.

The A-level student was captured on CCTV hurling objects at rivals and fighting over a wooden pole with another thug.

Titus had previously been cautioned for battery after punching a journalist at a right-wing demonstration against the “Islamification of Europe” in December 2009, the Old Bailey heard.

Earlier this year he was found guilty of threatening behaviour after swearing at a police officer who tried to break up a fight.

He is reported to be a youth organiser for the EDL and has appeared on the BBC Newsnight programme talking about his role in protests.

Titus, of North View, Pinner, north-west London, appeared in court alongside five other men, all of whom admitted a charge of affray at earlier hearings.

Dean Wells, 22, of Isleworth, west London, was jailed for 12 months while David Mitchell, 19, of Littlehampton, West Sussex, was given seven months and Andrew Hudson, 26, of Hornchurch, Essex, received an eight-month sentence.

Steven Donovan, 20, of Hayes, Middlesex, and Thomas Armstrong, 24, of Woodford Green, Essex, were each given suspended six-month sentences.

Judge Timothy Pontius said the men had taken part in a “disgraceful display of violence” that terrified ordinary people using a busy railway station and put them at risk of harm from bottles thrown across the street.

He said the “pitched battle” must have been a “frightening spectacle” that required a “firm deterrent message” from the court.

London 24

EDL protester starts jail term for affray

A man accused of launching a “flying kick” at a police officer while at the forefront of trouble at an EDL march in the Black Country was today behind bars.

Thomas Blackwell admitted a charge of affray during the EDL protest in Dudley on July 17 last year and was sentenced to one year in prison.

A DVD shown at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday showed Blackwell, aged 25, of Bird Street, Lower Gornal, wearing a white stab vest in the front few rows of protesters at the march as they confronted police.

Judge Michael Challinor told him the DVD showed he had “clearly” been at the forefront of the violence which erupted in Stafford Street on the day.

“You attended this demonstration with the intention of causing disorder and violence,” he said.

“This is clear from the fact you were wearing protective clothing in the form of a stab vest.

“In the course of this disorder you tackled a police officer by using a flying kick to his protective shield.”

Judge Challinor said he had considered the fact that Blackwell would lose his job and as a result, his home if sent to prison but added: “This type of violent behaviour so often prevents law-abiding citizens from protesting peacefully.”

Mr Stephen Thomas, prosecuting, told the court Blackwell had been near the front of the group of EDL protesters who had thrown bottles and bits of metal at police, before launching the “flying kick” at a police officer’s riot shield and swearing at him.

Mr Thomas said the group had also been chanting at the police and naming people who had killed officers, including Raoul Moat just weeks before.

Blackwell, who was unrepresented after having an application for legal aid denied, told the court he was “ashamed” of himself.

“I’ve shamed my family and my girlfriend,” he said. He added that he considered the term ‘flying kick’ an “exaggeration”.

Two others who have also pleaded guilty to affray during the EDL march will be sentenced on May 31.

Scott Bailey, 23, of Central Drive, Gornal, is accused of throwing a fence at police while Anthony Grant, 20, of Georges Road, Netherton, is accused of throwing “stones and large objects.”

Express + Star

Thanks to Newshound for the heads up.