Hammer-wielding man jailed after roaming streets in search of revenge during riots
An engineering graduate who roamed the streets with a hammer following the summer riots has been jailed.
Akheel Khan could be seen wielding the weapon as part of a group searching a residential area in Park Lane, Middlesbrough on August 4.
CCTV footage shows two young boys running away as a gang runs into frame.
Now, the 24-year-old has been jailed to 15 months in prison, of which he will serve 40 per cent before he is released on licence.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Khan had left his mosque on August 4 to find his car had been damaged in the civil unrest before he decided to search for the culprits.
He was spotted later that evening on Belk Street near Albert Park, flanked by two associates, both of which were armed with metal poles.
Officers from Cleveland Police responded to “reports of a group of Asian men fighting” at around 8pm.
In the CCTV footage, the gang can be seen dispersing as more than six officers arrive in a riot van and chase them down the road.
A group of the males attempted to flee the scene in a vehicle before crashing into another parked car and coming to a halt, reports The Telegraph.
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Khan, dressed in a dark top and grey joggers, was later cuffed and restrained by two policemen outside a nearby property. He appeared in court having admitted to violent disorder.
Representing Khan, Michele Turner, requested for the judge to consider suspending his sentence as he was a victim of his car being damaged following the riots. She added that his job in Sheffield is being held open for him.
Turner told the court that after prayers earlier that day, Khan had stayed behind to discuss with others what they would do if the mosque came under attack. Khan found his car damaged just minutes after that discussion.
It comes after a rioter who stopped drivers during the summer riots to check if they were “white” or “English” on the same day was jailed for 38 months after admitting violent disorder, including trying to set a car on fire, making racist chants and pushing a flaming wheelie bin into police lines.
Jake Wray, 23, of Seaton Street, Middlesbrough, was serving a 24-week suspended sentence for spitting at a police officer and carrying a knife at the time.
Wray, wearing a distinctive red top and an England flag around his shoulders, stopped cars at a junction in the town centre and was caught on mobile phone footage asking drivers about the colour of their skin. On the clip which was played in court, while he stood blocking traffic, Wray could be heard asking: “Are you white, are you English?”
A clip was played in court of Wray, with his England flag over his mouth as a mask, approaching a police video operator and shouting: “You can stick you chicken tikka up your arse. Tee-Tee-Teessiders.”
Harry Crowson, defending, said Wray initially denied the racial motive for stopping the cars “out of embarrassment and shame.”
Crowson said the defendant had repeatedly watched the clips in court over several hearings, adding: “In the cold light of day, he doesn’t even believe the things that came out of his mouth that day….He is quite appalled by it.”