Thug who set up racial checkpoint asking terrified drivers if they were white while his partner and her mother smashed up car on family day out to the riots is jailed for 38 months

A racist yob who stopped drivers during the summer riots to check if they were 'white' or 'English' has been jailed for 38 months.

Jake Wray, 23, of Middlesborough, admitted violent disorder in the town on August 4, including trying to set a car on fire, making racist chants and pushing a flaming wheelie bin into police lines.

He was serving a 24-week suspended sentence for spitting at a police officer and carrying a knife at the time.

Judge Richard Bennett, sentencing at Teesside Crown Court, told Wray: '(Your) behaviour was disgraceful and in no way reflects the values of the decent people of Middlesbrough.'

The judge said Wray's offending was violent, 'overtly racist' and included arson that day.

Wray, wearing a distinctive red top and an England flag around his shoulders, stopped cars at a junction in the town centre and was caught on mobile phone footage asking drivers about the colour of their skin.

On the clip which was played in court, while he stood blocking traffic, Wray could be heard asking: 'Are you white, are you English?'

The judge said the incident was so shocking it was played on the national TV news.

Further clips showed him setting fire to a wheelie bin which was pushed towards police lines and helicopter video captured him interfering with a red hatchback which minutes later burst into flames.

Wray told police that he was merely stopping cars to warn drivers, but he no longer stood by that account.

Judge Bennett said: 'You were clearly enjoying the attention and power of being masked during a frightening event for those drivers.'

A clip was played in court of Wray, with his England flag over his mouth as a mask, approaching a police video operator and shouting: 'You can stick you chicken tikka up your arse. Tee-Tee-Teessiders.'

Harry Crowson, defending, said Wray initially denied the racial motive for stopping the cars 'out of embarrassment and shame'.

Mr Crowson said the defendant had repeatedly watched the clips in court over several hearings, adding: 'In the cold light of day, he doesn't even believe the things that came out of his mouth that day.

'He is quite appalled by it.'

In September, Wray's partner and her mother were also jailed for violent disorder.

The pair were captured on footage smashing up a car while out on a family dog walk during the riots in Middlesbrough on August 4.

Amanda Walton, 51, was caught on CCTV throwing a missile, damaging a car wing mirror and rummaging through a bin, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Further footage showed her daughter Megan Davison, 24 - the partner of Wray - jumping up and down on a car roof, smashing windows and sticking her finger up at a police officer, prosecutors said.

They participated in the riot accompanied by their pet chow chow and a video showed both women holding the pet's lead as the mob made its way up Parliament Street in the town.

The street, which is at the heart of the town's asylum and refugee community, was the worst targeted by the race hate mob, with vehicles, homes and businesses smashed and set ablaze.

Both women admitted violent disorder and were jailed for more than three years in total at Teesside Crown Court.

Walton was sentenced to 22 months while her daughter received a 20-month sentence.

The court was told Davison is the mother of two children aged five and six who are being looked after by her aunt.