Beauty therapist looted 02 shop after getting involved in riot

SHE GRABBED A HAUL OF MOBILE PHONE CASES IN THE HOPE OF SELLING THEM TO FUND HER ADDICTION

- By MARK NAYLOR

A DRUG-addicted woman who got involved in the notorious scenes of rioting in Hull city centre hurled missiles at police outside a hotel where asylum seekers were living at the time.

Mother-of-one and qualified beauty therapist Kirsty Bennett was later one of the first looters to raid the O2 phone shop and she grabbed a haul of mobile phone cases in the hope of selling them to fund her crack cocaine addiction, Hull Crown Court heard.

Bennett, 29, of Marfleet Lane, east Hull, admitted violent disorder and burglary of the O2 store on August 3 last year. Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said that Bennett was among a crowd of people who gathered after 2.30pm outside the Royal Hotel in Ferensway, where asylum seekers were being housed at the time.

She was seen throwing two missiles, one of which seemed to be a toilet roll. She passed a drink bottle to a man near her and this was likely to have been thrown at police. She was seen on CCTV pictures at 5.15pm and she was also among the first people to go inside the O2 store in Jameson Street at about 6.30pm.