A homeless man hailed as a hero following the Manchester arena bomb attack has been jailed.
In the aftermath of the attack on the Ariana Grande concert last May, Chris Parker was hailed a hero after claiming he had helped victims. However, CCTV showed him stealing from two victims and taking photographs of others as they lay dying.
Manchester Crown Court heard how he stole a purse from one woman and took a mobile phone from a teenage girl.
Parker also ignored calls from the 14-year-old’s friends and relatives, and only handed it into the police the following morning.
Sentencing Parker on Tuesday, January 29, Judge David Hernandez said:
You stole from people who were seriously injured at a time when others were either dead or dying. It is hard to contemplate a more reprehensible set of circumstances.
Although the judge accepted that Parker had offered “limited” assistance to some of those injured, he said:
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You presented yourself as a hero. Sadly you were not the hero that you pretended to be. You were just a common thief.
Parker was jailed for four years and three months for two counts of theft and one count of fraud.
When the news broke that Parker was a 'hero' following the Manchester attack, more than £50,000 was raised as part of a crowdfunding appeal. He never received any of the funds and the money was returned to the donors.
