As the jury returned guilty verdicts, Ricky Rider and Lee Gumbrill broke down in tears.

The pair sobbed quietly as Judge Anthony Scott-Gall warned them and two teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, they were facing jail for their part in the disturbance which rocked the Whitehawk Estate in Brighton last April.

The judge told them: "I don't want any of you leaving this court entertaining any false hopes."

A stand-off between youths and police where a handful of trouble-makers goaded officers by shouting taunts and throwing bricks, bottles and eggs, marked a night of trouble on April 28 last year. Ten youths were arrested amid claims of police heavy-handedness.

Yesterday four of them were convicted. Gumbrill, 18, of Swallow Close, was found guilty of violent disorder. Rider, 29, of Haybourne Road, was cleared of violent disorder but convicted of causing an affray by a 10-2 majority.

A 17-year-old youth was convicted of violent disorder and a 16-year-old teenager was convicted of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour.

There were sighs of relief from relatives in the public gallery at Hove Crown Court as three others were cleared. Leon Page, 19, of Plaistow Close, was cleared of violent disorder, as was a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Darren Larbey, 22, of Findon Road, was cleared of violent disorder and affray. All seven had denied the charges.

The four who were found guilty after a seven-week trial will be sentenced on April 10 along with three other youths who changed their pleas to guilty during the trial.

Asa McBride, 18, of Haybourne Close, admitted a charge of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour and two other teenagers, who cannot be named, admitted charges of violent disorder.

During the trial, the jury of ten women and two men heard how the incident began with a group of young adults and children who had gathered in the street near to Dillons newsagent and the nearby telephone kiosk.

The court heard how police were called to the estate after a caller reported that a group of youths was drinking and throwing bottles.

Special constables Anthony Collingbourne and Neil Sturridge were sent to the scene but soon called for back-up after their efforts to calm the youths failed.

Mr Sturridge told the court he was confronted by a group who seemed anti-police and aggressive.

The special constable, whose regular job is in computer programming, said some of them had been drinking and were holding bottles and cans and began shouting abuse at him.

PC Siobhan Pellett arrived soon after. She said she found a group of 30 to 40 youths, who had become hostile, surrounding the two special constables.

More police arrived to support the officers, including PC Darren Lynch, Sergeant Glenn Taylor and a team led by Inspector Kevin Claxton, of Brighton police.

Insp Claxton said he saw a youth throw a brick while an ugly mob surrounded police cars. He said he arrived to find a mob of youths who were shouting, jeering and taunting police. Youths were throwing missiles which hit police vehicles.

The trouble escalated and more officers were drafted in, including a team wearing protective clothing, who charged one group of youths who refused to move away. Police dog handlers also used their animals to try to disperse the crowd.

Sgt Taylor told the court that youths and children shouted: "Come on pigs, we're going to kick your **** ing heads in" and threw stones and bricks at officers.

He said: "There was goading - that is the best way I can describe it. Surrounding us were people who wanted us to react to what they were saying."

Sgt Taylor said McBride shouted threats and he decided to arrest him because other youths and younger children were looking up to him and joining in with the chanting against police.

He said: "There was a group of about five or six I was concerned about. The rest were just kids misbehaving."

He told the youths the officers would stand there as long as they needed to in order to calm things down.

He said: "We were trying to threaten them with arrest rather than arrest them."

Sgt Taylor said McBride was aggressive, abused him and was spitting in his face as he screamed, "like a mad dog foaming at the mouth".

Mr Collingbourne described how bottles, stones and eggs were thrown at officers and the jury was shown video footage captured on CCTV cameras at the scene in Whitehawk Way and Plaistow Close.

Walton Hornsby, prosecuting, said trouble escalated following the arrest of Larbey, who was yesterday cleared of all offences, and police faced a tirade of verbal abuse and abusive gestures from the crowd.

The jury heard evidence from one teenager who was arrested who said: "The police were too heavy-handed with a bunch of kids.

"Every time we go out on a Friday or Saturday night they come up to Whitehawk and try to arrest some of us."

The teenager, who was 15 at the time and is now 16, denied using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour but was yesterday convicted.

Jonathan Ray, defending the teenager, said the youth was arrested because of police confusion with the identity of some of those causing trouble. He said the youth admitted swearing at the police and telling them he did not like pork but he denied pushing a sergeant or throwing stones.

Jeremy Gold, representing a 17-year-old youth who cannot be named, denied his client had been throwing stones at full force at officers.

Referring to CCTV tapes of the disturbance shown to the jury, he said: "If you watch him throughout the videos his body language is unaggressive and non-confrontational. He is always lurking at the back of the groups.

"You will not see that young man taking part in any kind of unpleasantness."

Stephen Vullo, representing Ricky Rider, denied his client had run up behind an officer and hit him as the officer was arresting someone else.

The jury heard the dog handler who made the claim released her animal which bit Rider and took him to the ground. Mr Vullo said there was no evidence on the CCTV tapes Rider had committed the assault.