Some lovely visions in here, plus a belting phrase.
"One rioter who was bitten on the backside by a police dog after yelling 'I pay your wages' at embattled officers wept in court as he was jailed for over two years today.
Ryan Sheers, 28, and his boyfriend Steven Mailen, 54, had spent the day at the bingo together before walking into the middle of the disorder that rocked Hartlepool on July 31st.
Each received sentences of two years and two months in prison by a judge who told them the public were 'rightly outraged by the behaviour seen on the streets of this country.'
The pair, both from Hartlepool, had pleaded guilty to a charge of violent disorder and had been warned to expect jail, however Sheers burst into tears when the length of the term was announced.
Prosecutor Rachel Master told Teesside Crown Court that Sheers and Mailen were at the front of a crowd of people goading a line of police officers with shields and batons.
She said: 'Over the course of 10 minutes Mailen goaded officers and used gestures and language that officers perceived to be inciting the crowd to use violence against the police.
'He continued shouting abuse and refused to step back when asked.
'An officer feared for his safety and that of his colleagues and struck the defendant to the leg with an extendable baton.'
At that point Sheers saw a 'red mist' and stepped in to defend his partner.
He was captured on video waving a finger at police officers and shouting at them: 'I pay your wages.' He also refused to step back and a police dog was deployed which latched itself onto his buttock, almost dragging off his shorts.
Ms Masters said: 'This had the effect of dispersing the crowd.'
However in the melee as the dog had hold of Sheers, Mailen ran forward again and kicked a police constable repeatedly on the shins. It eventually took three officers to overpower and arrest him.
Nigel Soppitt, defending, said that both men rejected right wing ideology and as a same sex couple in Hartlepool had been the subject of prejudice.
The pair got involved in the rioting, he said, after their post-bingo lager ran out and they left home to go to the local shop, discovering there were some 200-300 people out on the streets".
