A rioter who attacked police officers when last ye

A rioter who attacked police officers when last year’s May Day demonstration descended into violence was jailed for six months today.

(Thurs)

Sean Cregan, 34, who has been involved in scuffles at demonstrations before, punched and kicked officers in Trafalgar Square as they attempted to restrain the rampaging mob.

The jobless despatch rider had denied violent disorder, claiming he acted in ‘self defence’ but was convicted by a jury at Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court.

Sentenced with him was Emily MacHale, 26, a care assistant who tried to pull a officer to the ground and hurled a bottle into police ranks.

But the judge took pity on her after hearing she has no previous convictions and suffers from depression and a ‘fragile mental state.

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The court heard Cregan was bound over in January this year when he was involved in fighting at an anti nazi demonstration.

Judge Fabyan Evans told MacHale: ‘You had been behaving with incredible stupidity that afternoon.

‘In the later stages you were seen trying to pull a police officer from a plinth at Nelson’s column.

Cregan ‘aimed hard kicks’ at shields being held by police officers, the judge added.

‘You have previous convictions which tend to demonstrate you get drawn into situations, particularly when you have consumed too much alcohol, which either involve violence or the threat of violence.

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MacHale of Raleigh Road, Haringey, north London, who also has a Leamington Spa address, denied violent disorder but was also convicted at the trial last month.

She came to court with her overnight bag, anticipating jail term.

The peroxide blonde, who has multiple piercings in her face and ears, thanked the judge as walked free from the dock with a 120 hour community punishment order and pnds stlg 500 costs.

Cregan of Fairmile Avenue, Streatham, showed no trace of emotion as he was led to the cells.

The court heard how he repeatedly kicked out after he was hemmed in by a police cordon.

Cregan, the father of a young son whose mother suffers from mental illness, told the jury he lost his temper because he felt he was being held prisoner.

‘We had been there for four hours with no explanation at all,’ the rioter said.

‘They were constricting the crowd into a small area.

They carried on tightening the square and they were squeezing people closer together.

‘It was making a bad situation worse,’ he insisted.

MacHale bleated that protesters were ‘treated like animals’ and said she acted out of ‘bloodymindedness.

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‘My actions were a culminations of frustration,’ the care assistant told the jury.

Miss Rebecca Trowler, defending Cregan, said he had a ‘difficult family heritage.

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‘There is a good, socially minded side to Mr Cregan,’
Miss Trowler added.

ends