A 22-year old man caught on CCTV throwing missiles during a riot in east Belfast last December walked free yesterday after being given a two-year suspended sentence. Matthew Jamie David Higham, from Tamery Pass in the city, was captured hurling missiles at Castlereagh Street, and again at the junction of Templemore avenue and Albertbridge road on december 3 last year.
Belfast Crown Court heard that Higham became involved in the public disorder as a result of peer pressure, and was a man of an "extremely low IQ - well below average". Judge Gordon Kerr QC accepted that Higham was a "vulnerable young man" from a troubled background. He imposed a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years.