PM holds further Cobra meeting as he vows 'sole focus' is to stop riots - LIVE (2024)

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Sir Keir Starmer has told an emergency Cobra meeting that police need to remain on “high alert”, PA news agency understands.

The Prime Minister thanked the police and wider criminal justice system at his third Cobra meeting since violence broke out last week.

He also said there was no doubt that levels of policing in the right places, and swift justice over the past week including sentencing, have acted as a deterrent to disorder.

The final girl injured in the fatal Southport knife attack has been discharged from hospital and will continue her recovery at home, Merseyside Police has said.

She was released from Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital on Thursday and is the eighth child injured in the attack to be discharged, the force said.

Her family thanked the ambulance crews that were “crucial in airlifting her from the scene to the hospital” and said “we know that their intervention saved her life”.

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A man has admitted throwing bricks at police during disturbances outside a hotel in Manchester which was being used to house asylum seekers.

Paul Smith, 21, of Keynsham Road, Manchester, has today pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Manchester Magistrates’ Court.

Prosecutor Robin Lynch said Smith was seen throwing “what appeared to be a glass beer bottle” during the disorder outside the Holiday Inn hotel on July 31.

Mr Lynch added: “He picks up bits of broken brick from the floor and also picks up another brick and throws it towards the wall to make it into smaller pieces, and throws it at the police.”

District Judge Joanne Hirst remanded Smith into custody and ordered him to appear at Manchester Crown Court to be sentenced on August 15.

District Judge Hirst told Smith: “Further civil unrest is anticipated and you were voluntarily involved in this unrest.”

More than a quarter of people so far charged by police with offences linked to the recent riots across the country are under the age of 21, figures show.

Details of 147 individuals who have been charged since the unrest began on July 30 have been compiled by PA news agency.

Of this total, 39 (27 per cent) are under 21, including 14 people aged 16 to 17 and three under the age of 16.

The youngest person charged is a 14-year-old boy who has been charged by Merseyside Police with violent disorder.

People aged 21 to 30 account for 25 per cent of the total, with 31 to 40-year-olds 24 per cent, 41 to 50-year-olds 16 per cent, and over-50s the remaining eight per cent.

A man accused of participating in two riots over the past week has been remanded into custody at Leeds Magistrates’ Court.

Christopher Clayton, 66, is accused of violent disorder in Liverpool on Saturday, and outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham on Sunday.

He is also accused of possession of offensive weapons in a private place – namely swords and knuckle dusters, a court official said.

Clayton, of Station Cottages, Wakefield, will next appear before Leeds Crown Court next Thursday (August 15).

A woman has been arrested in relation to a social media post which contained inaccurate information about the identity of the suspected attacker in the Southport murders.

Cheshire Police have arrested a 55-year-old woman from near Chester on Thursday on suspicion of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred and false communications.

She is currently in custody, the force said.

Chief Superintendent Alison Ross said: “We have all seen the violent disorder that has taken place across the UK over the past week, much of which has been fuelled by malicious and inaccurate communications online.

“It’s a stark reminder of the dangers of posting information on social media platforms without checking the accuracy.

“It also acts as a warning that we are all accountable for our actions, whether that be online or in person.”

Scotland’s former first minister has described Elon Musk as “one of the most dangerous men on the planet”.

Speaking before a crowd at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Thursday, Humza Yousaf said the owner of X – formerly Twitter – used his wealth “for some of the most wicked evil I’ve seen”.

The comments come as Mr Musk deleted a repost on the website earlier on Thursday where he promoted a false claim about detainment camps being set up in the Falkland Islands for those involved in violent riots in the past week.

Musk, the world’s richest man, has repeatedly weighed in on the disorder seen in the UK in the wake of the murders of three young girls in Southport, including dubbing the Prime Minister “two-tier Keir” and suggesting “civil war is inevitable” in the country.

Speaking about Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, the former first minister described he and Mr Musk as “bosom buddies”, going on to say of the X owner: “I have to say, in my opinion, he is one of the most dangerous men on the planet.

“He is accountable to nobody, he has vast wealth at his fingertips and he uses it for some of the most wicked evil I’ve seen.”

At least 156 police officers have been injured so far in the unrest with 71 being taken to hospital, according to the PA news agency.

This figure only takes into account officer injuries from around half of the 43 forces across England and Wales. The total number of officers injured across all forces is not yet known.

A pensioner has been jailed for his part in disorder in which police were attacked and a library was set on fire in Liverpool.

William Morgan, 69, of Linton Street, Walton, has been jailed for two years and eight months at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting violent disorder and possessing an offensive weapon – a cosh – on County Road in Liverpool on Saturday night.

Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: “Your advancing years plainly did not prevent you from playing an active part in a disturbance on County Road.”