Brit nominee Pa Salieu jailed for Coventry violent disorder

Award-winning rapper Pa Salieu has been jailed for his part in "mob" violence shortly after the fatal stabbing of his best friend.

The artist was captured on CCTV using a tree branch to repeatedly hit a lone 23-year-old man in Coventry in 2018 who spent 10 days in hospital.

Salieu previously admitted violent disorder and was jailed for 33 months.

During wider violence, Fidel Glasgow - grandson of Specials singer Neville Staple - was stabbed to death.

Nobody has been charged with the 21-year-old's murder following a music event at Coventry's Club M in the early hours of 1 September 2018.

Salieu, who was named the BBC's Sound of 2021, was cleared of a second count of violent disorder at Warwick Crown Court, relating to the mass brawl minutes earlier that led to Mr Glasgow's death.

The 25-year-old from Hillfields, appearing in court under his full name Pa Salieu Gaye, was convicted of possessing a bottle as an offensive weapon after telling jurors he smashed and brandished it to defend himself.

Passing sentence on Friday, Judge Peter Cooke said: "Anyone harbouring the view that you are a young man being hard done by should pause to reflect that despite having a conviction for carrying a knife three years earlier - which resulted in a suspended sentence - in the course of these events you used two bottles and a stick.

"It was your intention to turn a bottle into a jagged weapon."

Following his arrest, jurors heard that Salieu told police Mr Glasgow was his best friend and then exercised his right to silence.

The judge added that Salieu and others involved in the violence had acted like a "mob".

"The case illustrates the dangers for any young man of acting with a pack mentality and getting involved in mass disorder," he said.

"If you do that somebody is likely to end up seriously injured or dead.

"What happened to Fidel could have happened to anyone in that melee."