Money initially donated to help a Darlington community after summer disorder was instead given to the families of two men jailed for their involvement, The Northern Echo can reveal. 

A GoFundMe page for the Darlington Community Emergency Fund raised nearly £4,000 to support community needs following the mass violence in August.

It said the cash donated would go towards those "who suffered the most during the riots, helping to repair homes, replace damaged property, and provide any necessary support services", and "establish a multicultural centre in Darlington".

Instead, the money was given to the families of two counter-protesters men Arian Ahmed and Mujmain Uddin, jailed for 22 months combined after arming themselves with a spanner and a crowbar and launching a ‘racially motivated’ attack on a man.

Arian AhmedArian Ahmed (Image: Durham Constabulary) Mujmain UddinMujmain Uddin (Image: Durham Constabulary) The organisers say all donors were told of the change but did not provide any evidence of this when asked by the Echo.

There is no suggestion of any illegality or breach of GoFundMe's terms.

The fundraiser was created on August 18 but an update was issued on August 22 stating a change to the beneficiaries of the donations.

The update read: “Currently we have two young men from our community who will be facing hardship, it is our duty to help where we can to help ease the financial burden for them and their families.

“This duty has led us to the decision that we will carry on fundraising indefinitely, all funds that are donated until 11:59pm on Sunday, August 25  will be equally donated to Aryan’s and Mahdi’s family.

“Any funds donated after this date will go towards different projects which will be discussed as this group grows.”

A spokesperson for the community group, who refused to give their name, said they received no donations on the page before August 22 when the update was posted.

They added: “Everyone who has donated has been contacted about the update and as the money was raised to help the community, we see no misleading or wrongdoing has been done on our part.”

“The boys have been punished by the law but their families, who are part of our community are still suffering with the financial burden of it all and you can tell by the amount of donations that people care and want to help.”

At the time of publication, we were unable to confirm if any of the £3,880 was raised before the update was issued.

Darlington Community Emergency FundDarlington Community Emergency Fund (Image: GoFundMe) The two young men, Arian Ahmed and Mujmain Uddin, were part of a larger group of Asian men who had gathered on North Lodge Terrace in Darlington to protect their local mosque on August 5.

Ahmed and Uddin chased a man through the streets and assaulted him in what Teesside Crown Court described as a “racially motivated” attack targeting a “white-British male.”

CCTV footage captured the violent assault, showing the man knocked to the ground and then kicked and punched.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the two men were armed with a spanner and a crowbar when they joined the counter-protest on August 5.

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Judge Francis Laird KC stated that the severity of the disorder and the racial element justified a custodial sentence, saying, “You both chose to take part in what became serious public disorder, you both chose to assault an entirely innocent man who had not been involved in the disorder in any way.

“The public in Darlington are rightly outraged and disappointed by this behaviour. For this offence, only a custodial sentence is justified.”

The judge sentenced Ahmed to a total of ten months detention in a young offenders' institute and Uddin was sentenced to a total of 12 months imprisonment.