IT was a very unhappy birthday for one Eltham troublemaker – who turned 21 the day he began a year-long prison sentence.

Shaun Knott, of Bromhedge, Mottingham, was part of a group that descended on Eltham in the days after the August riots claiming they wanted to protect the area.

But Inner London Crown Court heard he used both hands to throw a large lump of wood with considerable force towards a police carrier’s windscreen.

Officers saw him raising his arms appearing to celebrate his actions.

Sentencing him yesterday (Nov 2), Judge Mark Bishop said: "By your actions you were contributing to the civil disorder.

“You were with others seeking to take the law into your own hands.

He added: "This was a time when you attacked police when the police needed community's support."

Officer in the case Detective Constable Mark Gilchrist said afterwards: “His intent was to create disruption.

“Police repeatedly asked residents, during the days after the disorder, to stay in and not to take the law into their own hands.

“I hope he will take some time to reflect on what he did during his stay in prison".

Knott, who pleaded guilty to affray, is the second member of his family to go to prison over the events in August.

His 18-year-old brother David has been jailed after CCTV caught him in Woolwich being pushed away in a wheelchair with a stolen TV in his lap.