An actor who caused £10,000 worth of damage to the new Glade of Light memorial begged for forgiveness from the families of the Arena bombing victims. Anwar Hosseni, 24, was hauled before a judge after he admitted scratching the city centre memorial, which was officially opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Manchester Crown Court heard that police and Manchester council were alerted to the damage by family members of the 22 people killed in the atrocity. The incident happened before the memorial, next to Manchester Cathedral, was officially opened.
CCTV footage showed a man hanging around the memorial at about 2am on Wednesday, February 9. Hosseni was later identified and arrested.