First rioter jailed in recent disorder already out of prison

James Nelson, aged 18, was jailed after pleading guilty to smashing two police cars while wearing a pink balaclava in Bolton’s Morrisons car park on Sunday, August 4, as demonstrators clashed in the town centre.

Nationwide, dozens of towns and cities saw outbreaks of violence following the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on Monday, July 29.

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At a hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, August 6, prosecutor John Potter described how police officers returned to their Ford Focus and Peugeot vehicles parked at Morrisons on Black Horse Street to find ‘significant’ windscreen damage, side windows smashed, and a wing mirror knocked off.

Nelson, of Victoria Road, Horwich, was sentenced to two months imprisonment and ordered to pay £4,999 in compensation.

The incident occured in the Morrisons car park

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Now, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed that Nelson has already been released from prison.

Nelson was released after completing 50 per cent of his sentence, or just one month.

Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, those sentenced for most types of offences are eligible to be released on licence after serving one-half of their sentence.

Recently, the Government made a new order to change this from one-half to 40 per cent as a measure to tackle overcrowding in prisons – which led to the prison population nationwide falling by two per cent in just one week.

However, this did not affect Nelson, who was released after serving half of his two-month sentence.

The Bolton News contacted James Nelson for this article. He declined to comment. 

If you have a story, I cover the whole borough of Bolton. Please get in touch at jack.fifield@newsquest.co.uk.