Noor Miah and Mohammed Islam are the first to be sentenced for involvement in the trouble last summer.

The court had been told that during the weekend of 26 to 28 May last year, Oldham had been turned into a "war zone".

At Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday, Miah was jailed for four-and-a-half years and Islam was sentenced to three years in prison.

You must have come into [the violence] very much with your eyes open

Judge Barry Woodward

During the riots gangs of up to 100 men built and set fire to barricades then played "cat and mouse" games with police, the court heard.

Petrol bombs were thrown and local pubs were set on fire, sometimes with staff and customers inside.

"It is an absolute miracle that no-one died during these riots," said prosecutor Muktah Hussain QC.

Islam, 21, of Maygate, Chadderton had been spotted in the Westwood area of Oldham on the night of Sunday, 27 May, throwing bricks and handing them to others.

Missiles thrown

He pleaded guilty at the start of his trial in June this year.

Miah, 21, of Clarkwell Close, in Westwood, Oldham, was seen throwing missiles at policemen and was followed by two dog handlers and a group of riot police before being arrested.

He was found guilty by a jury at the same court earlier this year.

Sentencing the pair, Judge Barry Woodward said the riots had been "clearly one of the worst outbreaks of public disorder this country has ever seen".

He added that neither defendant could claim to have simply been "caught up" in violence they had not predicted.

"Everyone knew by then what had gone on during the previous night", he said.

"You must have come into it very much with your eyes open."