Nicholas Mullen, 22, was caught on CCTV lobbing bricks at officers during the Southport riots
A Wigan man who nicked bricks from walls to hurl them at police officers during the summer riots in Southport has been jailed.
Nicholas Mullen, 22, was caught on CCTV throwing the bricks at a line of police during the unrest on July 30 last year. Officers on duty that day suffered fractures, broken jaws and lost teeth at the hands of the ‘violent mob’, according to Merseyside Police.
He was sentenced to two years, eight months behind bars for violent disorder and assaulting an emergency worker. at a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on April 3. Police said he came to Southport with ‘one clear intention: to cause chaos and destruction’.
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The force added his jailing brings the number of people sentenced for their role in the disorder in Southport and Liverpool to 130. They have been jailed for a total of 241 years, six months, with 191 arrested and 150 charged for their role in the violence visited upon communities in Merseyside.
Detective Sergeant Duncan Sloan said: “Mullen came to a community grieving the loss of three young girls just 24 hours earlier, still reeling from the awful events of 29 July.
“He came here with one clear intention: to cause chaos and destruction. His actions left rubble strewn in our streets, and a police officer deployed to protect our community in Southport was struck with a brick.
“Mullen will now have a considerable time in prison to consider his actions, and whether they furthered whatever cause he thought he was fighting for.
“We know that his actions and those of everyone who took to the streets to commit disorder that day caused nothing but fear, concern and distress to residents in the area.
“The disgusting scenes witnessed will not be tolerated and we advise anyone else who took part in the disorder to do the right thing and hand themselves in.”
Images and footage are still being worked through so please contact us with any information via our public portal mipp.police.uk or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
