One will miss the birth of his first child

21:00, 01 Jul 2025Updated 21:02, 01 Jul 2025

L-R.: Keelan Westbrook, Martin Threlfall, Dylan Threlfall (Image: Merseyside Police)

Three brothers who hurled wheelie bins and missiles at police officers during rioting in Southport after the murder of three young girls have been jailed.

There were tears in court as Martin Threlfall, Dylan Threlfall and Keelan Westbrook carried their belongings in Aldi and TK Maxx bags down from the dock into custody ahead of being transported to prison. One, Westbrook, will miss the birth of his first child, the court heard.

The brothers all became embroiled in violent scenes in the town last summer after the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe, having travelled there from Wigan. Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday 50 police officers were injured during shocking scenes on the evening of July 30, 2024, as vehicles were damaged and properties were ‘ransacked and looted’. Crowds gathered near to a mosque swelled to around 1,000.

Bernice Campbell, prosecuting, described how CCTV footage captured former Army man Martin Threlfall hurling bricks and a wheelie bin towards a line of police officers. The 29-year-old, of Windermere Road in Ince, Wigan, was also seen throwing one missile at the windscreen of a carrier van while a PC was sat in the driver’s seat.

Police under attack during the Southport riots(Image: Getty Images)

A curved sword, the court heard, was subsequently seized from his home when he was arrested on April 3 this year, but that was said to be a keepsake belonging to his father.

Paul Williams, defending, said: “References paint a completely different picture of this defendant. He is a man, having come back to his senses, who invites me to apologise to the court and all of those people who have been affected. It is of deep sense of shame to him that he acted as he did on that day.

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“Your honour will have seen references to his time in the Army. He had a wide range of conduct in a combat facing role. His conduct is described as exemplary. He has all of these positive aspects, yet this man behaved disgracefully.”

Of the weapon found in his client’s home, Mr Williams added: “His father was one for displaying items and collecting them, and his father sadly died by suicide in the November before this offending. When the police arrived and found the various weapons on display, they seized a number of them but left this particular sword. It was a keepsake of his father. There is no sinister connection in relation to that sword.

Dylan Threlfall, of Freshfield Avenue in Atherton, was captured removing his jumper and wrapping it around his head, reports The Echo. The 23-year-old was similarly seen hurling a wheelie bin and bricks at police and throwing a concrete slab at the window of a police van.

Tributes in Southport after the murders(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)

Keelen Westbrook, also of Freshfield Avenue, was pictured wearing a “distinctive, bright pink top” while “gesticulating towards” PCs. The 21-year-old was then filmed throwing missiles during the disturbance.

Ken Heckle, representing both Dylan Threlfall and Westbrook, told the court: “They are both young men of previous good character. It would appear that Keelan Westbrook was slightly less involved. It is perhaps noteworthy that Keelan was only 20 years of age at the time. The passage of time has not done anything to diminish the shock and seriousness of what went on. How they got involved, only they know. They instruct me that they were the victims, as so many young men were that day, of false news that was put over.”

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“They will, of course, have to pay the price for their conduct. It must be very rare for three brothers to go to prison on the same day.

All three brothers admitted violent disorder. A suited Martin Threlfall, who also admitted possession of an offensive weapon in a private place, was locked up for two years.

Dylan Threlfall, who wore a grey suit in the dock, was handed 18 months, having also admitted possession of cannabis in relation to a quantity of the class B drug which was discovered in several jars around his home at the time of his arrest, while Westbrook got 16 months behind bars

Sentencing, Judge Stuart Driver KC said: “The mob assailed the people line in a violent confrontation which lasted for several hours. After these events, there were numerous other serious events across the country. Those who participate in such disorder will receive sentence designed to deter others.”