Man with ‘maniacal grin’ built bonfire and piled up bins during riot

A man who had a “maniacal grin” on his face while he built a bonfire, piled up wheelie bins and threw objects at police during unrest outside a Merseyside mosque on 30 July has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Christopher Beard, 33, is about to become a grandfather but he lost his job since he was caught on footage “enjoying the chaos”, the court heard.

Louise McCloskey, prosecuting, said that in the video – taken as police vehicles tried to move away – Beard could be seen “turning and laughing, with what can only be described as a maniacal grin, towards the crowd”.

Charles Lander, defending, said Beard, from Wigan, had been working in the area and had gone to “show some respect”.

Sentencing, Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: “It is no mitigation at all to say you, or some of you, went simply to pay your respects. That lies ill in the mouth of any of you, given your subsequent behaviour.”

“There’s footage of you literally building a bonfire in the middle of the road, pulling wheelie bins on top of each other.”

BBC News