A “chronic alcoholic” who drank 30 cans of lager before throwing sheets of metal at police has been jailed for 2 years and 8 months.

Carl Holliday, 30, was caught on camera hurling the sheets at lines of officers with riot shields.

He had been drinking heavily two streets away when he heard the nearby commotion and decided to join in.

The video was a summary of his actions over half an hour, prosecutor Miss Rachel Masters said.

She added: “He was in close proximity to them (the officers). He was heard constantly shouting and swearing at officers in an aggressive manner.

“He did not recall being involved in any disorder”, she added, but said that when shown the footage he admitted that it was him.

Holliday admitted a charge of violent disorder before a Magistrates and fell to be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday (August 8).

The court heard Holliday, of Tankerville Street, Hartlepool, had 15 previous convictions for 18 offences, with the first dating to 2006 and the latest being battery in 2022.

Mitigating, Mr McReddie said his client had explicitly told him not to chase complex legal arguments and that he knew he needed to be punished for what he had done.

The barrister said Holliday had told him: “It is what it is. I’ve done what I’ve done. I know I need to be punished.”

Mr McReddie said the chronic alcoholic “had no knowledge of any organisation through social media. He holds no racist views, he did not go there to express as such.

“He holds no extreme political views.

“He freely admits the nature and extent of his conduct.”

Sentencing him Judge Francis Laird KC said: "You chose to take part in what was an organised, large-scale incident of public disorder.


"Members of the public have been forced to endure the devastation and chaos caused"