A man jailed for kicking a police officer during a far-right protest near Downing Street has lost his appeal.
Ozzie Cush, 20, from Reading, kicked a Met Police officer in the hand as he confronted officers on July 31.
Prosecutor Alex Agbamu said: “There was no provocation and there was simply no need for the defendant to have acted how he did.”
Judge Benedict Kelleher, who sentenced Cush to 10 months in prison, said the offence displayed “a complete contempt” for the police force and was “clearly deliberate”.
He added: “Your actions also ran the risk of inflaming the wider situation and encouraging others to attack the police.”
On Thursday (November 7) Cush and three others involved in the unrest following the Southport stabbings brought Court of Appeal bids to reduce their sentences.
Alex Granville, for Cush, said there was “significant mitigation for each appellant and significant circumstances”, which may not have been properly considered.
He later told the court that an immediate prison sentence is not the only way to deter potential offenders.
The barrister continued: “Suspended sentences hanging over a defendant’s head, while subject to other forms of punitive work can act as a deterrent but can also act as rehabilitation.”
Mr Granville later said that judges are independent.
He added: “Even with the national events that are happening, the media coverage and the strong public opinion … there is still due process to be followed.”
But Lady Carr, speaking for a panel of appeal judges, said Cush’s sentences was not excessive.
She said: “The applicant was on bail for a recent offence of criminal damage. He must have known (from the loud and clear police announcements) that the police had issued a dispersal order.
“The applicant began to walk away from the police, but instead of continuing to do so, he went back deliberately to attack the officer who was filming events.
“That action clearly risked provoking similar violence from others, in circumstances where the police were having to respond to a challenging situation.”
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