Gas engineer wore a bright yellow t-shirt and sunglasses as he joined in violent scenes
A gas engineer who joined in racist chants and threw objects at police in Southport has been jailed for two years and two months. Tommy Callaghan, 32, of Platt Bridge, Wigan, appeared via videolink from HMP Altcourse at Liverpool Crown Court, where footage was played showing him wearing a fluorescent yellow T-shirt and sunglasses in a “large and aggressive mob” on July 30.
Violent scenes broke out in the town on the day after the murder of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event. People had gathered near a mosque in Southport after false information spread claiming the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.
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Judge Denis Watson KC said: “You were one of those who was chanting ‘who the f*** is Allah’, with your left arm and fist raised as you chanted and gesticulated in rhythm.
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“You were then part of the mob who surged forward at the police line. Then you picked up part of a brick, threw it at police, then picked up a second missile even before the first had landed.”
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Peter White, defending, said Callaghan had put his business, through which he employed three people, and the mortgaged home he shared with his partner and nine-month-old daughter at risk. He said Callaghan had travelled to Southport, about 25 miles from his home, to attend a vigil for the victims of the stabbing in the town.
He did not have a reason for why he had consumed alcohol once there and said he had no racially or religiously prejudiced beliefs but had “gone along with the mob”.