Eight men plead guilty to violent disorder after Henry Nowak murder protests in Southampton

Eight men have pleaded guilty to violent disorder following protests in Southampton over the murder of student Henry Nowak. A total of 11 people have now been charged.

Eight guilty pleas after Southampton disorder linked to Henry Nowak killing

Four more men have pleaded guilty to violent disorder following protests in Southampton sparked by the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, itv.com reports. The total number of people charged in connection with the unrest has now reached 11.

Hampshire Police charged six men, aged in their 20s and 30s — four from Southampton, one from Gosport and one from Romsey — after disorder in the city on Tuesday night. All six appeared at Southampton Magistrates' Court on Saturday.

Andrew Summerhayes, 38, from Romsey, pleaded guilty to violent disorder and two counts of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. The weapons were identified as a wheelie bin and a traffic cone. Summerhayes made no application for bail. His co-defendants Crawford, Varney and Grundy also pleaded guilty to violent disorder; bail applications for Varney and Grundy were denied. No pleas were entered for Reeves and Riddett, and no bail application was made for them either. All six are due to appear at Southampton Crown Court on Wednesday.

Earlier in the week, Connor Bishop, 24, Reece Robinson, 21, and Noah Etherington, 18, admitted violent disorder during hearings at magistrates' courts in Southampton and Portsmouth on Friday. Daniel Frost, 44, of Southampton, had pleaded guilty on Thursday to violent disorder and to possessing a dog lead with a metal carabiner as an offensive weapon. Across all proceedings, eight men have now pleaded guilty to violent disorder. One man, Matt Styler, 50, of Gosport, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to assaulting a police officer.

The protests followed the release of police bodycam footage showing Nowak being placed in handcuffs after he had been stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23. Digwa was jailed for life on Monday. He had falsely claimed he was acting in self-defence after being racially abused.

Nowak, a first-year accountancy and finance student at the University of Southampton, was originally from Chafford Hundred in Essex. He was fatally stabbed in Southampton in December.

Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)