THREE men have been jailed for a total of more than six years after committing violent disorder in Epping while officers had tried to facilitate a peaceful protest.
Each of the men had been seen on body worn video acting violently during disorder which had broken out following a peaceful protest outside The Bell Hotel on 17 July.
Martin Peagram, 33, of Barfields, Loughton, was captured on video kicking a police carrier door and throwing an object at another carrier.
Dean Smith, 51, of Madells, Epping, and Stuart Williams, 26, of Duck Lane, Thornwood, had been seen to be behaving aggressively and violently, including towards police officers.
Williams was also seen to have climbed on the roofs of the hotel and a nearby school which had reported damage to a door which led to the roof.
All three men were identified through footage and arrested in the days following the disorder.
Each of the men were subsequently charged with violent disorder.
They admitted their offences at an earlier hearing and were sentenced to immediate custody today at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Smith was given one year and ten months, Peagram two years and two months, and Williams two years and four months.
Chief Superintendent Simon Anslow said: “There can never be an excuse for the actions of these three men on 17 July.
“Officers had been trying their utmost to fulfil our lawful duty, which is to facilitate protest and counter-protest, and these men were among a section of the crowd which was intent on escalating a peaceful protest into dangerous violence.
“At Essex Police, we are in no way anti-protest, quite the contrary. We want people to be able to do this peacefully and safely. We’ve worked incredibly hard to ensure that can take place over the last three months.
“In these past weeks in Epping, we’ve seen what peaceful protest looks like, which balances the right to protest with the rights of the Epping community to live their lives free of serious disruption.”
Ch Supt Anslow added: “What we are opposed to is crime and we cannot and will not tolerate any kind of violence.
“We can’t have a situation where people are assaulting police officers, causing damage to property and vehicles or forcing us to close roads, all of which massively impacts local people.
“As today’s sentencing hearing shows, we will deal robustly with people who do that and ultimately put them before the courts.”
