Woman jailed for 27 months after taking 11-year-old to post-Southport riot

A 37-year-old pistillate who took a young lad to a post-Southport riot which saw an arson onslaught connected a edifice has been jailed for much than 2 years.

Aimie Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, who has 14 erstwhile convictions involving 30 offences, pleaded blameworthy to convulsive upset aft being recorded shouting “incendiary and racist” remarks astatine constabulary protecting asylum seekers housed astatine Tamworth’s Holiday Inn Express.

She reacted angrily to being handed a 27-month condemnation astatine Stafford Crown Court, looking towards friends and relatives successful the nationalist assemblage and complaining: “It’s a joke, it’s a f***ing piss-take.”

Video footage played to the tribunal connected Wednesday showed Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, wearing shorts and Crocs-style footwear, swearing towards constabulary lines and having to propulsion an 11-year-old lad retired of the mode arsenic a firework was aimed astatine officers.

The tribunal heard Hodgkinson-Hedgecox had intended to instrumentality the lad to a skate parkland erstwhile she saw the assemblage extracurricular the edifice connected August 4 and decided to articulation the protest.

Defence lawyer Stephen Rudge urged the tribunal to see alternatives to custody, including unpaid assemblage work, and said the suspect was “not idiosyncratic who holds overtly racist views oregon opinions”.

Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, whose past erstwhile condemnation was for artillery successful 2009, had near the country soon aft being recorded connected 3 video clips, Mr Rudge said.

Prosecutor Fiona Cortese told the tribunal that pursuing her arrest, Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, of Edale, Stonydelph, Tamworth, admitted that she was shouting maltreatment astir asylum seekers housed astatine the hotel.

During the disorder, Ms Cortese said, the edifice was damaged and petrol was poured wrong and acceptable alight.

Passing sentence, Judge Jonathan Gosling said: “I person watched the footage myself and you were signaling the unfolding violence.

“You are intelligibly disposable connected the footage shouting incendiary and racist remarks.”

Hundreds of radical were progressive successful a superior onslaught connected the hotel, the justice said.

After ruling that Hodgkinson-Hedgecox’s offending was earnestly aggravated by the information she had taken an 11-year-old lad to the scene, the justice added: “I judge you didn’t person a limb and you didn’t usage immoderate nonstop unit yourself.”

Judge Gosling said what Hodgkinson-Hedgecox had progressive herself successful “wasn’t politics” oregon a close to peaceful protest.

“Nobody is being punished for expressing their ain views,” the justice continued. “This was anarchy. You were lending enactment to an highly convulsive racist protest… wherever lives were endangered.”

In his submissions to the court, Mr Rudge stressed that Hodgkinson-Hedgecox had not contacted anyone other progressive and that those participating successful the unit were already present.

“She sees the assemblage and gets involved,” the defence lawyer said. “It’s a determination she bitterly regrets.”