30 sentenced after Cardiff riot sparked by teenage deaths
Thirty people were sentenced over the Ely riot after Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, died in a crash that still shadows Cardiff.
The legal reckoning for the Ely riot reached 30 convictions, but the anger that began with the deaths of two teenagers in Cardiff is still far from settled. South Wales Police said 25 men and five women were sentenced after being convicted of riot at Cardiff Crown Court, following a two-week hearing that ended on Friday. The force said 51 people had been arrested over the disorder, and that the sentencing closes the criminal investigation into the riot itself.
The violence erupted after Kyrees Sullivan, 16, and Harvey Evans, 15, died when the Sur-Ron electric bike they were riding crashed on Snowden Road in Ely on 22 May 2023. CCTV later showed a South Wales Police van travelling close behind the bike shortly before the collision, a detail that became central to public controversy and years of disputed accounts about what happened in the moments before the crash. Police have said the exact link between the van and the disorder was unclear.
What followed was a night that spread quickly through Ely and left a lasting mark on the district. South Wales Police said several vehicles were set alight, property was damaged, officers were injured and residents were frightened in their homes. The disorder turned a local tragedy into a wider breakdown in trust, with rumours, anger and suspicion filling the space left by an incident that was never neatly explained to the community.
The scrutiny has run on a separate track. The Independent Office for Police Conduct opened an investigation in 2023 into police actions after the deaths, and in December 2023 said it was also examining complaints from the boys’ families about police response, treatment at the scene and communication after the crash. On 7 April 2025, the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not bring criminal charges against a South Wales Police officer over a single allegation of dangerous driving because there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
That was not the end of the policing questions. In August 2025, the IOPC said the driver of the police van had a gross misconduct case to answer over the accuracy of accounts given after the collision. Against that backdrop, Friday’s sentences bring punishment for the riot, but not closure for the deeper dispute over police conduct, accountability and the deaths that set the night in motion.
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