One of the troublemakers who joined in scenes “resembling a war zone” during rioting and looting in Hull city centre last summer has told a court: “I lost my head.”
Jordan Briggs had been drinking all morning when he decided to go and have a look at what was happening and – as an “act of idiocy” – join in the serious disturbances. He was one of many who raided the Lush store and he stole four boxes of bath bombs, Hull Crown Court heard.
Briggs, 24, of Hull, admitted offences of violent disorder and burglary of the Lush shop on August 3.
Jane Rapin, prosecuting, said that the offences took place in the days following the murders of three girls in Southport. Briggs was seen in the area of Jameson Street – described by police as “resembling a war zone”.
He was pushing a commercial waste bin, with smoke coming from it, towards police. “Lit waste bins were being used as burning missiles and were being pushed towards officers,” said Miss Rapin.
Briggs was carrying a scaffolding plank when he and another man were later seen. “They took it to the police line and threw it towards officers who were holding a line,” said Miss Rapin. “The men disappeared back into the crowd.”
Briggs was shown on CCTV pictures going into the Lush store in Jameson Street at about 6.50pm. “Once inside, he approached a stand and took four boxes containing bath bombs,” said Miss Rapin. “He put those into a shopping basket and then left the store.” The items were valued at £120.
“In one of the stills, he is masked and is seen with a scarf around his face. He was identified following a media appeal by the police and he was arrested on October 16,” said Miss Rapin. Briggs was found at the scene of a completely unrelated incident.
(Image: Hull Live)
A Lush employee later said on August 7 that the targeting of the store had taken a “physical, mental and emotional toll” on staff. “This incident has massively impacted all of us, some of whom can’t bring themselves to come into the store,” she said.
“When I first saw the footage, I was horrified. We are very upset about what has happened and feel very anxious and feel that this will have a massive impact on us.” Many hours had been spent cleaning up. The overall loss to Lush had been put at £31,862, including repairs of £22,000.
Briggs told the court: “It was an act of idiocy. I had been drinking all morning. I went in the Spring Bank Tavern and they told me they were closing because of what was happening in town. I went to look. I saw one of my friends getting pushed by a police officer. I lost my head.”
Briggs said that he had moved down to Stevenage with his 20-year-old fiancee. “I went down to stay with her for a weekend and haven’t been back,” he said. “I play football for a church team and sometimes go fishing. I want to go to college and do a course or something.”
During police interview, Briggs made no comment to questions. He had convictions for four previous offences between 2017 and last year, including possessing a knife, bring drunk and disorderly and theft. He was in breach of a one-year suspended prison sentence imposed on January 29 last year for theft.
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Billy Torbett, mitigating, said: “His behaviour on August 3 was quite simply unacceptable and he knows that custody is, unfortunately, inevitable in this case.”
Briggs, who had been on bail and was recently living in Cuttys Lane, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, was jailed for two years.