A LATCHFORD man has spoken out after his friend was jailed for four years for setting up a Facebook riot page.

Police say they were inundated with calls from worried residents while business owners in the town shut early in case a riot broke out.

Sutcliffe-Keenan was jailed at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday by the Recorder of Chester Elgan Edwards who said he hoped the sentence would be a deterrant for others.

Jordan Blackshaw, aged 20, from Northwich, was also jailed for four years on the same day for the same offence.

Last Monday night Sutcliffe-Keenan used the popular social networking site to invite 419 teenagers to attend a riot in Latchford the following Wednesday between 7pm and 10pm.

The page also included a photograph of civilians clashing with police officers and one of Sutcliffe-Keenan, of Richmond Avenue, raising his middle finger to the camera.

One hundred people joined the group and, as a result, large numbers of Warrington residents went online condemning those involved before police shut down the page last Tuesday.

His childhood best friend Phil O’Neill, aged 18, of Mort Avenue, was outraged at the length of the sentence.

He said: “There will be trouble after this, people will riot. It will all kick off now he’s gone. Pezz is really popular.

“I was with him just before he set up the group. He only wanted to see how many ‘likes’ he could get on Facebook.

“Four years is pathetic, people get less than that for doing far worse things.”

Rob Watson, owner of Latchford Chiropody Practice, on Knutsford Road, heard about the Facebook group through a friend.

He closed early last Monday and cleared out everything of value.

The 42-year-old said: “I was more frustrated than scared because I felt powerless.

“I think four years is a lot but if 100 youths had come into Latchford and torched it, they could have killed people.”

Sutcliffe-Keenan, who held a previous conviction for possession of cannabis, was arrested last week following incidents of violent disorder in London, Manchester and other cities.

A subsequent bail application hearing at Halton Magistrates’ Court detailed how Sutcliffe-Keenan's brother thought it was all a joke.

The 22-year-old, who was remanded in custody, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday.

During the sentencing Judge Edwards praised the swift actions of Cheshire Police.

Assistant Chief Constable Phil Thompson said: “If we cast our minds back to last week and recall how technology was used to spread incitement and bring people together to commit acts of criminality, it is easy to understand the four-year sentences that were handed down in court today.”

Sutcliffe-Keenan’s mother Michele Beswick Keenan had her mobile phone switched off after the sentencing and there was no answer when the Guardian visited the family home yesterday.

On a tour of Daresbury Science Park yesterday, Prime Minister David Cameron said: “I think it is right. The courts are handing down stiff sentences to see this doesn’t happen again.”