Edinburgh man who handed out fireworks and smashed vehicle during Bonfire Night riot jailed
An Edinburgh man who was part of a gang that attacked police and smashed up a vehicle during a shocking Bonfire Night riot in the city has been jailed.
Lewis Forbes was a member of a 30-strong masked mob that launched fireworks, set fires in the road and trashed a parked car in the Gracemount area of the capital in November 2024.
Forbes, 26, was seen handing out rockets and dishing out instructions to other members of the gang before he was caught vandalising a motor. He was snared after he was recorded on CCTV taking part in the large scale disturbance while unmasked and wearing a distinctive parka jacket with a fur hood.
Forbes, of Gilmerton, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of mobbing and rioting when he appeared in the dock at the city’s sheriff court on December 4 last year.
The offences were prosecuted under Section 44 of the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 and aggravated by use of a firework in relation to an emergency worker.
The disturbance was just one of several violent incidents that broke out across the city which saw Police Scotland forced to deploy riot officers and a helicopter as part of Operation Moonbeam.
Prosecutor Eilidh Grant told the court Forbes was part of a large mob that forced roads to be closed off and police and emergency services to withdraw from the area “due to the significant level of risk”.
Ms Grant said the masked group were recording the violence on mobile phones and their behaviour had “caused significant disruption to the public in general”. The court heard police reviewed CCTV of the disorder two days later and had identified Forbes who was “seen with a jacket with a fur hood” and arrested him on January 30 last year.
The fiscal said the footage showed Forbes “engaging with members of the mob” and he was later spotted distributing fireworks “and appearing to give instructions” to the group.
The masked gang were seen to light fires in the road and attack police officers with fireworks before they made their way down a street in Gracemount where they began vandalising a parked car.
Ms Grant said: “Various members of the mob began to kick the car with force. The accused appeared to be laughing as he watches the group vandalise the vehicle. The accused then ran towards the vehicle and began to join in with vandalising the vehicle.”
The fiscal told the court the Bonfire Night mayhem involved “upwards of 30 people though not all were engaged in criminal activity” and lasted just under three hours.
Sheriff Christopher Dickson said: “This is an extremely serious offence that on the November 5, 2024 you were part of a mob of masked individuals who caused serious disorder over a considerable period of time.
“Your role involved distributing fireworks to the mob that were then thrown at police officers. You were part of a mob that attacked a vehicle. That behaviour cannot be tolerated. Given the nature of the offence a custodial sentence is the only appropriate way of dealing with you.”
The sheriff sentenced Forbes to 15 months in custody.
Forbes pleaded guilty to forming part of an evilly disposed mob and conducting himself in a violent, riotous and tumultuous manner to the great terror and alarm of lieges and in breach of public peace and did with faces masked gather and move as part of the group, light fires including on the carriageway, disseminate fireworks to others who threw them at police officers, set off fireworks in unsafe circumstances and repeatedly strike a vehicle causing damage, at Gracemount Drive and Captain’s Drive, Edinburgh, on November 5, 2024.