A PETROL bomber who was recognised by police when his mask fell off during rioting in Derry's Bogside last July has been jailed for five and a half years at the city's crown court.
The makeshift mask worn by John Paul Moore (23), whose address was given as c/o Maghaberry Prison, fell to the ground after he was hit with "an energy projectile fired by police".
Police CCTV camera operators both on the ground and in a helicopter filmed Moore as he struggled to put the mask back over his face.
Moore, who has 27 previous convictions, many of them for public order offences, arrived in Fahan Street in the early hours of July 12 of last year after he had walked seven miles from Campsie after a row with his partner.
He pleaded guilty to one charge of riotous assembly, five charges of possessing petrol bombs in suspicious circumstances and four charges of throwing petrol bombs at police lines, damaging one of the police vehicles.
During the riot Moore was under the influence of alcohol and drugs and turned his back to police and exposed his buttocks.
A barrister for the Public Prosecution Service told Judge Elizabeth McCaffrey that about 200 people were present during the four hour long disturbances when up to 50 petrol bombs were thrown at the police.
When he was arrested Moore denied the offences and said to police officers "prove it".
His lawyer said Moore didn't "have a political thought in his head".
"As regards what he said when arrested, he can be a big man during interviews but he is a small boy when it comes to today's proceedings", Mr. Mooney said.
Jailing Moore Judge McCaffrey told him that the years he had previously spent in jail was a waste of a young life.
She ordered that upon his release, Moore would be banned from coming within 500m of any parade or demonstration.
