She shouted racist abuse and attacked police but she won't be going to jail

Ellie Clarke, 21, from Southport
-Credit: (Image: Facebook/Echo)


A nursery worker who assaulted a police officer during disorder in Southport wept as a judge spared her jail. Ellie Clarke hurled racial abuse and struck out at a police officer's riot shield as violence erupted in Southport following the fatal stabbings of six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Da Silva Aguiar in July.

The 21-year-old had previously cried and hung her head in shame in Liverpool Crown Court as she was shown what happened when "the adrenaline got the better of her." Sentencing her today, October 22, Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC said: “The footage shows you, for a time, standing amongst the crowd of people behaving like animals, shouting vile abuse at police officers and directing appalling racist chants at the nearby mosque.”

But Judge Menary said Clarke had already paid a “significant price” for what she did that night, having been remanded in custody for seven weeks. He said: “You understand how seriously your behaviour is to be regarded, as do others who have been dealt with by this court."

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The defendant, wearing a pink cardigan, wiped her eyes with a tissue as she was handed a 20-month sentence, suspended for 18 months. The judge said around 70 people had been dealt with by the court for their roles in the disorder and only one other defendant had not been given an immediate prison sentence.

Clarke of Chestnut Street, Southport, pleaded guilty at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court to violent disorder, assaulting an emergency worker and a racially aggravated public disorder offence. She was seen to strike an officer’s riot shield, an earlier hearing was told.

A police van is set alight as trouble flares during a protest in Southport in July
A police van is set alight as trouble flares during a protest in Southport in July -Credit:PA Wire/PA Images

Daniel Travers, defending, said a pre-sentence report and psychiatric report had been prepared and Clarke had written a letter to the judge which showed “genuine remorse”. He said: “Clearly, this is a young lady who has on numerous occasions in her relatively short life suffered traumatic events and has clearly got a number of issues that she needs to resolve.

Judge Menary said the reports enabled him to take an “otherwise exceptional case”. He added: “This case must not be reported as simply you being a female and not going to prison. I promise you this, you would have gone to prison but for the very substantial personal mitigation available to you. It is only because of the exceptional mitigation that is present in this case.”

He added: “Suffice to say there is a very real, demonstrable background of mental illness of one form or another which has caused you real struggles and with which you are currently dealing.” Clarke, was ordered to carry out 40 days of rehabilitation activity and 100 hours of unpaid work in the community.