Two men jailed for violent disorder after protests over Henry Nowak's murder

Two men have been jailed for violent disorder at a protest in Southampton following the death of Henry Nowak.

Leon O'Leary, 41, and Connor Bishop, 24, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court on Tuesday, after violence broke out in the city following the student's murder.

Bishop and O'Leary pleaded guilty to violent disorder at the city's magistrates' court.

Footage shows O'Leary "walking casually" in the crowd in front of a police cordon, before picking up a smoke grenade from the ground and throwing it towards the police.

He also admitted and was sentenced for resisting a police officer and possession of an offensive weapon - a samurai sword in his bedroom.

When officers went to arrest him at his home in Basingstoke at 3.30am on 7 June, he adopted a "fighting stance" at the top of the stairs and threatened officers, who had to use PAVA spray to subdue him.

Meanwhile, Bishop was seen in footage carrying a yellow traffic cone, which he threw towards officers.

In video shown to the court, the father was seen running with the cone, "pursuing officers for some time with it", prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the court.

"Once it's thrown he then follows it again, picks it up again," she said.

He also admitted throwing a box of screws and punching a wall.

He told officers in interview he was brought up Christian and "threw items to fit into the crowd", adding that he had drunk a small amount of beer "that made him more lairy".

Read more:
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Defending Bishop, Thomas Evans said: "He is perhaps an example of peer pressure and group thinking".

He said Bishop told him, "I was just being a dick, I wanted to fit in" and he was "very sorry" to anyone who was hurt.

O'Leary was sentenced to three years and one month in prison for the three offences, and Bishop was jailed for two years and eight months.

It came after Vickrum Digwa was sentenced for the murder of 18-year-old Mr Nowak, and bodycam footage revealed how police had dealt with the case.

Digwa claimed he had been the victim of a racial attack and Mr Nowak was handcuffed by police who ignored his pleas that he could not breathe as he lay dying.

Two other men - 21-year-old Reece Robinson and Noah Etherington, 18 - also pleaded guilty to violent disorder on Friday. They were due to be sentenced this week.

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