Tears and denials A week in the courts following far-right riots

There were teenagers and pensioners, some with a string of convictions and others with none.

- Josh Halliday, Mark Brown, Robyn Vinter

There were hardened criminals and baby-faced schoolboys, some with the support of parents.

"He's a pain in the arse," said one defendant's dad. The father of another told reporters his teenage son was, simply, "a moron".

The Guardian reported from courts across the north of England every day this week as more than 150 people aged 14 to 69 - faced a legal reckoning that was as severe as it was swift.

Hundreds more are expected to be sent to custody in the coming weeks as the number of those arrested reached 595 yesterday afternoon, with suspected offences including violent disorder, arson, assault of an emergency worker, and inciting racial hatred.

The response of the courts followed the worst outbreak of public disorder in Britain in over a decade as far-right demonstrations turned violent after the murder of three young girls - Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine - at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport on 29 July.

Judges who would usually reserve Britain's shrinking prison space for the most serious offenders sent 80% of riot suspects to the cells to await trial - totalling more than 120 by yesterday. The minority who were allowed bail were almost all youths.

Keir Starmer praised the "robust and swift response" of the criminal justice system, saying judges should "send a very powerful message to anybody involved, either directly or online, that you are likely to be dealt with within a week". He added: "Nobody, but nobody, should be involved themselves in this disorder." In many cases, solicitors for the alleged rioters denied their clients were racist or anti-immigrant. One lawyer said the men in the dock "do not know the difference between far-right and far-left".