Six more charged over violent protests in Southampton after Henry Nowak murder
It brings the total number of people charged after Tuesday night’s riot to 11
Six more people have been charged with violent disorder after protests in Southampton earlier this week following the murder of Henry Nowak.
It brings the total number of people charged after Tuesday night’s riot to 11.
Taylor Grundy, 22, of Pavillion Way, Gosport; Kevin Reeves, 31, of Portswood Road, Southampton; Andrew Riddett, 38, of Seacombe Green, Southampton; Harry Varney, 34, of Briarswood, Southampton; and Dillon Crawford, 29, of Wilton Avenue, Southampton, were charged with violent disorder, Hampshire Police said.
Andrew Summerhayes, 38, of Banning Street, Romsey, was charged with violent disorder and two counts of possessing an offensive weapon in a public place, the force added. All of them will appear at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning.
As previously reported by The News, a second man from Gosport and also faces charges and two Havant men have admitted violent disorder following the riot in the street where bricks and bins were thrown at police and residential property damaged.
The charges come after protests following the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa, 23, to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 21 years for the murder of 18-year-old Mr Nowak in December. Anger erupted after police body-worn video was released showing Mr Nowak being placed in handcuffs moments before he became unconscious and subsequently died.
(Video embedded in this story - warning it contains distressing scenes)
The treatment of the 18-year-old triggered a political row, with the Prime Minister urging politicians to heed the teenager’s relatives’ calls not to use the case “to cause disturbances”.
Violent protests erupted near where the student was fatally stabbed, after Digwa claimed he had been the victim of a racial attack, while Mr Nowak was handcuffed by police who ignored his pleas that he could not breathe as he lay dying.