Two men jailed for violent disorder in Southampton
Protests followed the death of student Henry Nowak
Last updated 9th Jun 2026
Two men who threw a traffic cone and smoke grenade at police during disorder in Southampton following the murder of Henry Nowak have been jailed.
Leon O’Leary, 41, and Connor Bishop, 24, were sentenced at Southampton Crown Court today, a day after pleading guilty to violent disorder at the city’s magistrates’ court.
Footage shows O’Leary “walking casually” in the crowd in front of the police cordon when he spots a smoke grenade on the ground, picks it up and throws it towards police.
O’Leary also admitted and was sentenced for resisting a police officer and possession of an offensive weapon – a samurai sword in his bedroom, from when officers came to arrest him.
When officers went to arrest him at his home in Basingstoke at 3.30am on June 7, he adopted a “fighting stance” at the top of the stairs and threatened officers who had to use pava spray to subdue him for arrest.
From a search in his bedroom, officers also found the samurai sword, which O’Leary said he owned for 20 years as decorative only and he did not know the law had changed on owning one.
Meanwhile Connor Bishop, 24, from Southampton, was seen in footage wearing a black jumper with “boys get sad too” written on the back, carrying a yellow traffic cone which he threw towards officers.
The father is seen running with the cone, “pursuing officers for some time with it”, prosecutor, Siobhan Linsley told the court.
“Once it’s thrown he then follows it again, picks it up again,” she said.
When he was arrested on June 3rd at his home address he answered no comment but then accepted he was there when shown footage.
He also admitted throwing a box of screws and punching a wall not captured on footage.
He told officers in interview he was brought up Christian and “threw items to fit into the crowd” and that he had drunk a small amount of beer “that made him more lairy”.
Defending Bishop, Thomas Evans said: “He is perhaps an example of peer pressure and group thinking”.
He said Bishop told him that he was “very sorry” to anyone who was hurt.
Mr Evans said of Bishop and O’Leary: “They are not the instigators of this disorder, they are inevitable result of other individuals who seek to harness anger.”
O’Leary was sentenced to three years and one month in prison for the three offences, and Bishop was jailed for two years and eight months.
The disorder came after anger erupted following the release of police body-worn video showing 18-year-old Mr Nowak being placed in handcuffs by police moments before he became unconscious and subsequently died.
Vickrum Digwa, 23, was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 21 years for Mr Nowak’s murder after falsely claiming that the teenager had racially abused him.