Man 'looted doughnut shop' in Manchester riots
- Published
A man looted a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop in Manchester hours after being released from jail, a court heard.
Thomas Downey, 48, of no fixed address, was drunk when he was caught with a box of doughnuts by 20 riot police during last week's disturbances.
Manchester Crown Court was told he had been released from Strangeways prison less than seven hours earlier.
Downey pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to burglary and breach of an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (Asbo).
Alcoholics Anonymous
He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on Thursday.
The court heard he was released from HMP Manchester at 19:00 BST on 9 August and caught by police at about 01:30 BST the following day.
He had headed into Manchester to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
He later drank a bottle of sherry and stumbled into the Krispy Kreme store in Piccadilly Gardens, which had been attacked by a mob earlier.
In mitigation, the court was told that although he was not involved in the rioting, he saw the shop unsecured and helped himself because he was hungry, having spent all his money on tobacco.