JAILED, SQUATTER WHO SET OFF FIREWORKS AT REMEMBRANCE DAY SERVICE
A SQUATTER who set off fireworks at a Remembrance Sunday event has been jailed for 16 weeks.
Stuart Potts, 38, was jailed at Manchester magistrates court yesterday after he set off fireworks from the window of the Albert Edward pub in Eccles – where he was staying at the time – just before a two-minute silence was about to begin at the nearby memorial service attended by around 300 people.
The dad-of-four pleaded guilty to one count of throwing fireworks in a public place and one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
A crowd of over 300 people who gathered at the Cenotaph were left ‘shocked’ when the fireworks exploded above their heads. Some who attended said it sounded like gunshots.
Members of the crowd, including war veterans, had to be held back from the pub by police as they confronted a man hanging out of the window.
Potts, who appeared in the dock wearing a camouflage outfit, said he was told to let off the explosives because he thought they would be similar to the ‘guns set off in London.’
Prosecutor Kate Draper said: “The defendant was looking out of a window looking over at the ceremony. The defendant let off two fireworks just before the ceremony was about to begin. The first one let off numerous loud bangs similar to gunshots. The second one was a rocket-like firework which was let off about 15 feet above the crowds. He was overlooking the crowds from the window.
“The crowd turned hostile towards the defendant and the police had to intervene. In police interview, he gave no comment but he did say that someone asked him to do it and he believed it was a mark of respect.”
A Royal Marines veteran said Potts’ behaviour was the ‘most disrespectful act he had ever witnessed.’
In a witness statement, he said the loud bangs from the fireworks sounded like ‘gunshots’ and aggravated his PTSD. He said: “I can’t understand why someone would do such an abominable act against people me or have, or may have, suffered like I have.”
The pub, which is permanently closed, appears to be housing several squatters.
Potts previously told the M.E.N. he had been living on the streets since being evicted from his social housing flat following a breakdown.
Abigail Henry, defending, said Potts wished to express ‘sincere and genuine’ remorse to those at the service. He also wanted to publicly apologise to any other members of the community who were affected, she said.
But District Judge Mark Hadfield said he ‘did not take the view’ that Potts had shown any remorse or that he accepted Potts’ statement that he had let the fireworks off ‘as a mark of respect.’
He jailed him for 16 weeks for the public order offence. There was no separate penalty for setting off the fireworks.
He said: “This appalling behaviour arose out of you being in possession of fireworks. Even if it is correct that you were handed them by another person, nobody in their right mind would think that letting them off in the middle of the ceremony shows a mark of respect. On the contrary, it shows a lack of respect.”
He added: “This has had a detrimental effect on him, and many others like him would have been shocked.
“Only a custodial sentence is appropriate in this case.”