On 4th July 2025, Holly Thompson was instructed to represent a defendant, “GW”, who had pleaded guilty to Violent Disorder. The defendant was present at the Hull Riots on 3rd August 2024 and was said, during the course of the widespread disorder, to have been stood at the barricades near the Royal Hotel, had wrapped his t-shirt around his head like a “balaclava” and had thrown a brick towards a police officer but which had landed short. There was no evidence that the defendant himself had displayed racial aggravation towards others.
The defendant faced a lengthy custodial sentence with the Crown proposing a starting point of 4 years.
Holly argued that there were substantial and exceptional mitigating factors in the case which warranted a non-custodial sentence. That included several glowing references for the defendant and detailed medical evidence of the defendant’s long-established diagnosis of Aspergers, which confirmed that he was extremely vulnerable, he was someone with a propensity to mimic others in order to fit in and therefore adopted behaviours which could be inappropriate, and would be significant impacted by an immediate custodial sentence.
The Court stepped back from an immediate custodial sentence and imposed a community order for 18 months.
Holly was instructed by Liberty Tindall-Moore of Williamsons Solicitors