Riots In Brief: Armani looter jailed

A 25-year-old man who looted an Armani store during disorder that swept the nation earlier this month has been jailed for 20 months.

Birmingham Crown Court heard how Esa Harding was caught on CCTV and identified by a blood sample taken from the scene after he cut his hand.

Harding, of George Arthur Road in Saltley, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to one count of burglary after he entered the Armani store in the city's Mailbox shopping centre and stole a T-shirt on 8 August.

Jailing him for 20 months, Judge Melbourne Inman QC said: "A very serious set of offences were committed, you realised that they had been committed and then decided to take advantage of that."

Facebook 'rioter' appeals

A 20-year-old man given a four-year jail term after a court heard he tried to incite a riot on Facebook has launched an appeal.

Jordan Blackshaw, of Northwich, Cheshire, was jailed at Chester Crown Court earlier this month. A spokeswoman for the Judicial Office said an "application for leave to appeal" had been received by the Court of Appeal, which sits in London.

The case is the first challenge to be lodged at the Court of Appeal by a defendant sentenced at a Crown Court in the wake of recent public disorder.

Guilty conscience leads to prison

A 22-year-old man turned himself in to police after looting an adidas shop because "his conscience got the better of him" – but yesterday a judge jailed him for 18 months.

Leonard Stephens, of St Andrew's Road in Birmingham, took himself to a police station after taking items from an adidas store, even though police at the scene had let him go.

Stephens appeared at Birmingham Crown Court for sentence after he pleaded guilty to one count of burglary at the city's magistrates' court earlier this month.