Oldham race riots 'triggered by minor disagreement between four boys'

A race riot was triggered when a white gang began attacking Asian people at random after a minor disagreement, a court was told yesterday.

Nine men, one woman and two youths went on trial at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, accused of rioting on the first night of racist disturbances in Oldham in May 2001. A disagreement between four boys provoked the gang, which went to the Glodwick area of the town and attacked members of the local Asian community at random, the court was told.

The men had been drinking in Oldham on 26 May, 2001, Mukhtar Hussain QC, for the prosecution, said. While they drank, two Asian boys had a disagreement with two white youths in Glodwick. The Asian boysfollowed the white boys intothe home of Sharon Hoy, 38. She phoned her mother who called her son, Darren Hoy, who was in the pub, to say the house was under attack. Mr Hoy, with eight friends, went to his sister's house. Mr Hussain said: "They [attacked] anyone who was Asian." The group ran around the Glodwick area brandishing weapons and threatening Asian families. Asian youths went to confront them and the gang was outnumbered by the time the police arrived.

Sharon Hoy and Darren Hoy, 27, James Clift, 24, Alan Daley, 38, Matthew Berry, 25, David Bourne, 35, Steven Rhodes, 30, Stephen Walsh, 22, a girl aged 17, and a boy, 16, all from Oldham, deny riot, violent disorder and racially aggravated damage to property. Two other men pleaded not guilty to similar charges at an earlier hearing. The trial continues.