Two out of every five people arrested after participating in last summer’s riots had been previously reported to the police for domestic abuse, the Guardian can disclose.
Police data released under freedom of information (FoI) laws shows that 41% of 899 people arrested for taking part in the violent disorder last July and August had been reported for crimes associated with intimate partner violence.
For those arrested by one police force, this figure was as high as 68%.
Previous offences include actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm, stalking, breach of restraint and non-molestation orders, controlling coercive behaviour and criminal damage.
The disclosures come amid a growing debate over the legitimacy of protests outside asylum hotels.
Police have issued a dispersal order at Epping, Essex, after a series of demonstrations outside the Bell hotel, which broke out after an Ethiopian asylum seeker who had recently arrived on a small boat was charged with sexual assault against a local girl.
Ministers have said protesters are “upset for legitimate reasons”. Far-right activists have become involved in promoting them online and have been present, in some cases clashing with police.
Last summer’s riots spread across the country in response to the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on 29 July. Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, were murdered by Axel Rudakubana, who has been jailed for a minimum of 52 years.
The Guardian’s data was obtained through FoI requests sent to 21 police forces covering the 27 towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland where riots took place.
The 27 towns were identified as sites of significant disorder in a House of Commons briefing document in September. Between 30 July and 7 August 2024, an estimated 29 anti-immigration demonstrations and riots took place. Many of these were violent, with participants attacking mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.
In Bristol, where there were 60 arrests, more than two-thirds of those arrested had been the subject of a previous domestic abuse report.
In Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, Cleveland police reported there had been 107 arrests, 44 of whom had been subject to a prior domestic abuse report.
In Rotherham, where rioters set fire to an asylum hotel, 75 people were arrested, 35 of whom had been reported for domestic abuse, South Yorkshire police said.
Joshua Lane, a 27-year-old former serviceman who threw missiles at police guarding the hotel, pleaded guilty to violent disorder. He had previously received a suspended sentence for stalking, battery and criminal damage.
There were 91 arrests in Sunderland where rioters set fire to cars, a building and attacked a mosque. Of those, 38 were subject to a prior domestic abuse report.
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One of the first arrests by Merseyside police for participation in the Southport riot was made after a suspect in a domestic incident was identified by officers based on footage from the previous day’s violent disorder.
Merseyside police arrested 160 people after days of disturbances in Liverpool and Southport, but did not provide the Guardian with a number of prior domestic abuse reports because of prohibitive costs.
Gareth Metcalfe, 44, described by a judge as “at the forefront of the disorder” in Southport, had previous convictions including sexual assault and breach of a non-molestation order.
In Hull, where 47 of the 151 people arrested had been reported for prior domestic abuse, Ethan Armstrong, 26, who was jailed for violent disorder, had previously been convicted for causing actual bodily harm after repeatedly punching an ex-girlfriend.
The Metropolitan police said there were 165 arrests in Whitehall last summer in connection to the riots, 48 of whom had previously been reported for domestic abuse.
This information provided by police forces indicates overlaps between public violent disorder and domestic violence and abuse.
Outcomes for reports held by police indicate that less than a quarter of individuals had been charged for any of the domestic abuse offences for which they were a suspect.
Isabella Lowenthal-Isaacs, the policy manager at Women’s Aid, said: “A year on from the terrible Southport attacks on young girls, and as conversation about far-right protests once again starts to appear in the media, it is tempting to treat these events as isolated.
“However, the reality is that these acts of violence are part of a wider pattern rooted in the same dynamics that drive domestic abuse and violence against women and girls: control, coercion, and misogyny.”
The National Police Chiefs’ Council indicates that by May, a total of 1,840 arrests had been made in relation to the disorder and there were 1,103 charges related to the violence, most of which were serious public order offences.
Most of those charged have come from the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods. Analysis of the Crime Survey for England and Wales data also shows that in the areas where riots took place, there is a higher prevalence of domestic abuse incidents (39 per 1,000 people) compared with the rest of the country (27 per 1,000 people).
In Middlesbrough, a protest that began as two minutes’ silence for the three lives lost ended in a 1,000-strong riot as homes and cars were damaged, with ‘race checkpoints’ set up for drivers.
A recent report from the home affairs committee into the police response to the rioting called on the police forces to develop greater capacity to monitor and respond to social media. It also recommended the government set out ambitious reforms to meet its commitment to halve violence against women and girls.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The scale of violence and abuse suffered by women and girls in this country is nothing less than a national emergency.
“That’s why we have pledged to halve violence against women and girls in a decade, and will set out our transformative strategy to achieve that goal in the coming months.”
