Union flag-draped rioter jailed for four years after point blank missile attack on police

A MAN has been jailed for four years and four months after he beckoned others to join him in confronting police after a march turned violent.

- Tom Wilkinson

Kieran Usher, 32, threw a missile from point blank range at officers behind riot shields in his home city of Sunderland.

Usher was draped in a Union flag, masked, swigging lager and filming the trouble on his phone on August 2, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Michael Bunch, prosecuting, said Usher threw a number of missiles and played a leading role in the disorder, "encouraging others, beckoning them on, filming their activities".

Northumbria Police Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine told the court her officers were met with "serious and sustained" levels of violence and were attacked with bricks, concrete blocks and scaffolding poles.