An actor scratched ‘light language’ onto the Manchester Arena bombing memorial, causing over £10,000 worth of damage. Anwar Hosseni, 24, earlier pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the Glade of Light memorial when a number of scratch marks were found in February this year, prior to its official opening in May.
Manchester Crown Court heard that the Glade of Light memorial is based in the city centre and was created in memory of those who died during the attack at Manchester Arena in 2017. On February 9 this year, the council and Greater Manchester Police were notified by family members of the deceased of markings that had been etched onto the memorial.
They also received a further email from the public about the markings as well as damage to the halo, prosecutor Julian Goode said. CCTV footage close to the memorial was analysed and showed a man in the area at around 2am.
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“As soon as he walked around the memorial, police viewed what they believed to be a male praying before he left the scene,” he said. “At 2.47am the footage shows the male returning and at the time of 2.54am he can be seen bending down with what appears to be an implement in his hands and scratching something onto the names before he left the scene at 3.09am.”
Reports were carried out into the damage caused, the total of which came to a staggering £10,768.80. Hosseni, of Salford, was arrested and interviewed the same day, and admitted to causing the damage.
He told the police he was making the scratches with a crystal ‘Buddhist head figure’, making ‘light language’ to express ‘love, unity and gratitude’ to the 22 who sadly died in the attack.
In victim impact statements read to the court, family members of those who died illustrated the impact the damage had caused to them. “To know someone caused such damage in such a callous and nasty way, broke our hearts again,” one statement read.
Another said: “When I heard about the memorial being vandalised, it made me ill. How could somebody do this? We as a family find it conflicting that the crime caused to the beautiful memorial and the way it was desecrated is beyond belief. How can people be so cruel and thoughtless to stoop so low?”
Hosseni was said to have no previous convictions. A psychiatric report suggested that he had earlier suffered with mental health issues and was previously detained under the mental health act.
Mitigating, Gwen Henshaw said his mental illness was linked to the commission of the offence. “He said he was honouring the victims by etching marks as ‘light language’ in the expression of love, unity and gratitude towards the souls lost at the Manchester Arena,” she said.
“He now recognises his actions caused distress and the families of the victims and wider community of Manchester will be upset and angry. He is sorry for his actions and he will never do anything like that again.”
Ms Henshaw said her client acknowledged the damage he had caused and would like to ‘pay back his debt to his community’. She said he has a belief system that he routinely speaks about on YouTube and works as an actor and model 'when he can'.
"He very much understands what he did was wrong and hurtful to many and the impact it has had on victims' families” Ms Henshaw said.
Sentencing, the Recorder of Manchester, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “The memorial is precious to the people of Manchester but especially precious to the relatives of those who died, the 22, in the bombing.
“Your actions during that night of February 9 were bizarre. But what you did was cause significant damage. The damage to this memorial could have been interpreted by relatives and friends of the victims of the bombing as a sacrilegious act as desecrating the names of the victims.
“I have no doubt they were entirely understandable about seeing this as some sort of political motive, and that for some reason that expressed some support, not for the deceased, but for the bomber himself. I am satisfied that is not the case.
“But you will understand how it will be that many people interpreted what you did as desecrating in an act of dishonouring the memory of their loved ones.”
The Judge said if this would have been politically motivated, he would have been jailed. He said instead that Hosseni was motivated by his ‘bizarre thought processes’. He added that it was clear that Hosseni was trying to ‘pay respect’ rather than cause hurt.
Hosseni, of Twillbrook Drive, was handed a two year community order, a 12 month mental health treatment programme and 10 days of rehabilitation activity requirements. He was also banned from entering the area around the Glade of Light memorial for two years.
Caroline Wilbraham, Senior Crown Prosecutor with CPS North West said:” The memorial is an important tribute for Manchester and the families of those who tragically lost their lives in the terrorist attack five years ago.
“I am appalled that anyone would damage the memorial, knowing what it represents. Thanks to the strength of evidence in this case, Hosseni accepted his guilt at an early stage. The CPS will robustly prosecute those who commit appalling offences like this, that affect the whole community.”
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