Now clean our war memorial - VIDEO
OLD soldiers today called for drunken student Philip Laing to be forced to clean up Sheffield's war memorial after he was given community service for urinating on poppy wreaths.
Laing, aged 19, caused outrage when he was photographed relieving himself on poppies at the memorial in Barker's Pool a month before Remembrance Day.
VIDEO: Click the green play button for online video report of this story.
The Sheffield Hallam sports technology student, who pleaded guilty to outraging public decency at an earlier hearing, was ordered to carry out 250 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months when he appeared at Sheffield Magistrates' Court yesterday.
Today Ken Riley, 85, chairman of the Normandy Veterans Assoc-iation in Sheffield, said: "Urinating on the war memorial was an horrendous act - there are lads his age fighting and dying for this country in Afghanistan right now.
"It would be apt if his punishment involves him cleaning up Barker's Pool and the area around the memorial, so he has to think about what he has done."
Fellow Normandy veteran Bill Hartley, 87, of Killamarsh, who served his country between 1939 and 1946, said: "I would have liked him to have gone to jail to think about what he did, but if he has to pay his dues to the community he should be made to clean up litter and weeds around war memorials.
"He deserves everything that has happened to him. He should never have done it, his behaviour was completely disgusting.
"He has been disrespectful to the people who fought for this country."
Laing had shared a bottle of whisky with pals before going out on an organised 'Carnage' pub crawl. He told police he had been so drunk he could not remember anything about his crime.
Laing had been warned jail was an option, but District Judge Anthony Browne said although his behaviour was "shocking" the shamed student had already been "significantly punished and castigated".
He told him: "You have understandably had the wrath and indignation of the public heaped upon you and your family.
"I have considered a prison sentence but I feel the most appropriate sentence to be one of reparation - by making amends by public service, hopefully within a charitable organisation."
The judge said Laing's actions were the result of the "vast quantity of alcohol" he had consumed, and slammed binge drinking culture.
"No-one forced you to take all this drink or persuaded you to commit a criminal offence. You did that all by yourself and you must take responsibility," he added.
"But all this is set against a backdrop of a culture of drinking far too much. In my view something needs to be done to change this culture."
The judge said Laing's behaviour had "outraged, offended and saddened" the public and he revealed he had received a number of letters about the incident.
Tim Hughes, defending, said: "Philip Laing has paid an extremely heavy price for one evening of utter and complete foolishness. He has learned an extremely hard lesson indeed. The likelihood of re-offending is low in the extreme."
Mr Hughes said a number of social networking sites on the internet showed the level of public "revulsion" at Laing's actions.
He said the teenager had been "genuinely terrified" by the prospect of jail and said his behaviour was the result of him getting "whipped up in the drinking culture that is all too prevalent".
He apologised to the public on Laing's behalf and said the teenager also wanted to say sorry to his mother, who sat in court as her son was sentenced.
"In terms of remorse, that's obvious - it's from every pore," added the solicitor.
Laing, from Macclesfield, who has nine GCSEs and three A Levels, hung his head as details of his drunken behaviour were read out in court.
Afterwards a Sheffield Hallam University spokesman said: "The university has already initiated disciplinary proceedings against this student. Now that the judicial process has been completed we will arrange a disciplinary hearing to decide appropriate sanctions."
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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