Mariella Gedge-Rogers has received a term of five and a half years for attacking a police officer and smashing a Bristol police station window during a riot.
Gedge-Rogers, 27, was filmed striking a police officer in the head with a skateboard, which she later used to smash a window at Bridewell Police Station, during Bristol’s ‘Kill the Bill’ protest-turned-riot on the 21st of March 2021.
Alongside her illegal behaviour involving the skateboard, Gedge-Rogers — who reportedly sobbed during the hearing — was also found guilty of climbing onto the station roof and launching missiles at police officers below.
The leftist rioter was convicted at Bristol Crown Court in February and has now been handed a term of five and a half years by a sentencing judge, although it is very uncommon for British criminals to serve their full prison sentences.
Gedge-Rogers is expected to serve only half of hers before being released on licence, the BBC reports.
The sentencing judge admitted he gave Gedge-Rogers a more lenient sentence than others who had rioted on the same day because he accepted her “culpability is lessened” because of her “PTSD” and the fact that, in his opinion, she had shown remorse.
The court heard that officers had described the riot as, “ferocious, prolonged and determined violence which caused them to be more scared than ever before”.
The Kill the Bill protests came in response to the Conservative Party government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which aims to clamp down on “disruptive and sometimes incredibly dangerous” protests by granting the police more powers to break up demonstrations.
The radical eco-protest group ‘Extinction Rebellion‘ — who are known for blocking roads and even newspaper distribution centres — are named on the government’s website as an example of the type of protests police would be implementing these powers on.
The news of this bill caused a widespread outcry from protest groups, particularly those on the left, who have organised several protests across Britain in an effort to stop the legislation from passing.
These protests have been largely ineffective as the bill has now cleared both the House of Commons and House of Lords.
The protest against the bill in Bristol on the 21st of March started off peacefully but later turned violent after protestors attacked the police around 5 pm, with left-wing yobs launching fireworks and missiles at the police, setting fire to two police vans as well as smashing and spray painting others – with forty-four police officers reportedly assaulted by the time the riot had stopped.
The night concluded with a mob of around 500 people – which Gedge-Rogers was part of – attempting to break into Bridewell Police Station – with the officers inside reporting that they feared for their lives.
The violence resumed a week later on the 27th of March with left-wing protestors even possibly attempting to attack the police with ammonia – which can cause blindness – alongside continued assaults on officers.
Gedge-Rogers is the 15th person from the riot to have been sentenced, with another Bristol local, Jasmine York, 26, set to be sentenced on Monday after being convicted of arson.