'Extremely stupid' beautician joined riot mob in yellow cocktail dress and handed out eggs

A beautician who joined a outside a hotel housing has been told by a judge that her actions were "extremely stupid".

Destiny Waugh, 19, gave out eggs to a large crowd in as they launched bottles, bricks and eggs at the grounds of a Holiday Inn and the cordon of police officers around it. The crowd also shouted racial slurs towards the police and the hotel. Manchester Crown Court heard on Tuesday how Waugh, who was pictured wearing a bright yellow cocktail dress at the riot, "aided and abetted" the crowd around her. She walked free from court after being handed a suspended sentence.

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CCTV images showed Waugh walking along Oldham Road, in Manchester, towards a nearby Shell Garage at around 7.18pm on July 31 this year, where the court heard she bought two cartons of eggs. Disorder had broken out in the area two days after three young girls were killed in a mass stabbing in Southport.

She was seen buying the eggs and paying with cash before returning to the gathering crowd holding a white carrier bag, the court heard. Waugh was pictured in her yellow cocktail dress in police appeal pictures issued after the incident, leading her to hand herself in on September 7.

Gavin Howie, prosecuting, told the court: "The best course of action here would have been for her to keep walking and not to return. She [is seen] helping herself to two cartons of six eggs. She purchases those with cash and then returns to the scene where a number of youths were gathering. She approaches a group of boys and hands them the eggs, which were used as missiles and launched towards police officers stood at the entrance gate. This is a classic case of aiding and abetting - delivering the ammunition into their hands."

The court was told Waugh, who works part time as a cleaner and is a student in beauty therapy, told police that she had stumbled across the large group of protesters as she walked along Oldham Road that evening. Mr Howie added: "She claimed she had no idea why the crowd were there and was not fully clued up on the Southport attacks. Ms Waugh's involvement was relatively short, however her actions encouraged teenage boys to take part, in turn, providing encouragement to others for this to escalate." In mitigation, Verity Quaite, defending, said her client had no previous convictions.

She said: "She has shown a considerable amount of immaturity here; she has been incredibly foolish and she said she feels disgusted with herself."

Waugh, from Manchester, pleaded guilty to the charge of violent disorder and was sentenced to 16 months in a young offenders institute, suspended for 18 months. She must complete 150 hours of unpaid work, attend 10 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay £150 in costs. Sentencing, Judge Alan Conrad KC described Ms Waugh's actions as "extremely stupid". He said: "In July of this year, there were terrible and tragic events in Southport following which there was an outpouring on social media, including a large amount of false and inflammatory postings, leading to widespread and hate-filled incidents of violent disorder.

"It is that context which makes cases such as this so serious. You purchased eggs which you passed on to youths for them to be used as missiles. There is no evidence you did anything further. After you handed them over, you left the scene. You were extremely stupid in acting as you did."