Andrew Phillips and David Green have both been jailed for 31 months
One wore sunglasses and held a half-drunk pint of beer in his hand as he shouted in the faces of police. He had earlier kicked a man as he was down on the ground.
The other stamped and kicked on the leg and ribcage of the same man as officers tried to protect him. Both have now been jailed for over two-and-a-half years for the ‘deplorable’ attack.
Andrew Phillips, 28, and David Green, 41, are the latest rioters to be sentenced for their part in a group attack on a lone black man in Piccadilly Gardens last month.
Disorder and chaos spread across the towns and cities in the UK following the tragic killing of three children in Southport. Misinformation spread online as to the identity of the alleged attacker, leading to a number of protests and violent disorder with missiles thrown at police and racist behaviour.
Duncan Wilcock, prosecuting, told Manchester Crown Court that during a protest in Manchester city centre, a man was set upon, first by ‘one or two’ men before he fell to the ground. Phillips then kicked the man as he was on the ground, Mr Wilcock said.
“Mr Green was then seen to be stamping on his leg and his ribcage,” he added.
“Two officers bravely came to the rescue of the man before other officers attended. One of the officers lay on top of the man as he was being attacked, in order to protect him.”
“Frankly, it was a cauldron of disorder,” the prosecutor added. The court heard that the black male was arrested ‘for his own protection’ then swiftly de-arrested. The two officers were also injured in the melee, it was said. Both men were identified following an appeal by Greater Manchester Police.
Green was said to have previous convictions for battery and assaulting a police officer; and Phillips had previously been handed a football banning order after getting involved in a ‘football-related’ large-scale disturbance at Great Portland Street station in London.
Representing them both, Laura Broome said both men took responsibility for the ‘utterly appalling’ incident.
“Both ask me to convey their remorse to the court,” she said. Of Green, she said he had ‘struggled with alcohol for a long period of time’ and had been drinking in the city centre at the time.
He began a conversation with a group of males who encouraged him to join them in the protest. He has little recollection of his behaviour,” Ms Broome said.
She added that he felt ‘ashamed and embarrassed’ and has since lost his job after the video was posted online.
For Phillips, she said he was also drinking at the time, and had ‘little recollection’ of the offence. “He describes the shame he feels in watching that footage,” the barrister said.
She said he has been suspended from his job, where he has worked for 11 years, and expects he will be dismissed after the sentencing hearing.
“He feels he has, in his own words, ‘thrown it down the drain,” Ms Broome said on his behalf.
“Because he is the author of his own misfortune,” the sentencing judge replied.
Jailing them both for two years and seven months, Judge Patrick Field KC said Phillips’ behaviour was ‘unpleasant, aggressive and deplorable’. And of Green, he said his actions were ‘cowardly’.
“By your actions, I have no doubt both of you encouraged others to engage in public disorder. You each caused terror and discomfort to the man of the assault and fear and distress to others present,” he added.
Both Phillips, of Ripon Crescent, Stretford, and Green, of Hamilton Street, Stalybridge, were handed criminal behaviour orders banning them from entering certain areas of Manchester city centre for three years. They both pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
Shaun Holt, of Oak Road, Stockport, also pleaded guilty to violent disorder and will be sentenced on October 3.
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