A Southport rioter who went viral after he was bricked in the head, chest and privates is a ‘party animal’ father-of-two who comes from ‘just up the road’.
Brian Spencer, who is a painter and decorator, was part of the rioters who hijacked a vigil for the three girls murdered at a Taylor Swift dance class on Monday.
Follow our ongoing coverage of the Southport attacks here
Footage showed the 33-year-old flamboyantly wiggling his hips in front of officers holding riot shields.
But a brick launched from the rioters hits him straight in the back of head.
Another rebounds off the officer’s shields directly onto his chest, leaving him seemingly stunned as he begins to stagger away.
But it only gets worse for the rioter, as he walks away clutching his head in pain another brick lands straight in his groin area.
His friends told MailOnline: ‘People are saying the protesters were outsiders who came here to cause trouble – but Brian came from just up the road.
‘Everyone knows Brian. He’s a bit of a party animal and I think he just got excited last night. His head will be hurting this morning.’
But the actions of Brian and his fellow rioters have been widely condemned, with the group accused of taking advantage of a grieving town.
The violence started barely an hour after the vigil for Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar started.
Eight other children suffered stab wounds, with five still in a critical condition at Alder Hay hospital.
Two adults were also seriously injured while trying to save children attending the dance club.
The Prime Minister, Home Secretary and police chiefs have all criticised the violence, which was spurred by an incorrect name of the suspect going viral on social media.
At least 56 officers were injured during the riots, which the Chairman of Merseyside Police Federation described as a ‘sustained and vicious attack’.
The community was left to clean up the mess left by the rioters outside Southport mosque.
Locals were pictured with brushes and shovels as they condemned the violence caused by the ‘hooligans’.
Norman Wallis, chief executive of Southport Pleasureland, who was helping at the junction of Sussex Road and St Luke’s Road, said: ‘It’s horrendous what those hooligans have done last night.
‘It was like a war scene. People from out of town just causing absolute mayhem.
‘But none of those people were the people of Southport. The people of Southport are the ones here today cleaning the mess up.’
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