A taxi driver who spread misinformation and incited violence on social media following the Southport attack has been jailed for seven and a half years.

A Lancashire taxi driver became the “catalyst” for riots in Southport when he set up a social media account urging “English lads” to “rise up”, a court has heard.

The man who stoked the Southport riots with a Telegram group he started has been jailed for seven and a half years. Andrew McIntyre, 39, started ‘Southport Wake Up’ after three young girls were stabbed to death at a children’s dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29 last year.

A taxi driver has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years over social media posts which acted as the catalyst for the Southport riots last summer. Andrew McIntyre set up a Telegram channel called “Southport Wake Up”,