A TWENTY-SIX-YEAR-OLD man threw missiles and kicked a police van after he earlier attended a peaceful vigil in Southport with his pregnant girlfriend, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Dylan Carey, from Hindley, visited the town on July 30 to pay his tributes to the three girls fatally stabbed at a dance class by laying flowers and lighting a candle.

Widespread disorder involving a group of about 1,000 people later broke out, with the focus of violence aimed at a local mosque and fuelled by misinformation on social media, said prosecutor Nardeen Nemat.

Chants of “who the f*** is Allah?” and “this is our f***ing country” were heard as police officers came under fire from missiles as they formed a cordon to prevent the group from reaching the mosque.

CCTV footage was played to the court which showed Carey, wearing black shorts, a grey T-shirt and black cap, twice kicking a police van and hurling a bottle and a tin of paint at the vehicle.

Prosecutor Nardeen Nemat said CCTV and mobile phone footage of the incident involving Dylan Carey was shown “quite quickly” online on X, formerly Twitter, and other social media platforms.

A police officer at Southport railway station was shown the footage and stopped Carey, 26, at about 9.05pm when he walked past with his girlfriend and his father, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

The defendant told the officer he was present at the disturbance but denied any involvement.

He was arrested at his home in Castle Hill Road, Hindley, on August 5 and when later interviewed he said was at the vigil when he saw a notice for a “peaceful” protest about the stab attack.

He attended and the crowd became angry as missiles were launched, the court heard, and Carey also “grew angrier” and threw items himself.

Miss Nemat said: “He said he decided to go to his pregnant girlfriend and leave once a concrete slab had been thrown”.

Carey, who pleaded guilty last week to violent disorder, will be sentenced on Monday afternoon after a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service is sent to the judge.