Actor seen praying minutes before causing £10k of damage to Glade of Light Arena memorial

An actor scratched ‘light language’ onto the Manchester Arena bombing memorial, causing over £10,000 worth of damage. Anwar Hosseni, 24, earlier pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the Glade of Light memorial when a number of scratch marks were found in February this year, prior to its official opening in May.

Manchester Crown Court heard that the Glade of Light memorial is based in the city centre and was created in memory of those who died during the attack at Manchester Arena in 2017. On February 9 this year, the council and Greater Manchester Police were notified by family members of the deceased of markings that had been etched onto the memorial.

They also received a further email from the public about the markings as well as damage to the halo, prosecutor Julian Goode said. CCTV footage close to the memorial was analysed and showed a man in the area at around 2am.

READ MORE: CCTV police appeal as hunt for knifeman continues after serious stabbing

“As soon as he walked around the memorial, police viewed what they believed to be a male praying before he left the scene,” he said. “At 2.47am the footage shows the male returning and at the time of 2.54am he can be seen bending down with what appears to be an implement in his hands and scratching something onto the names before he left the scene at 3.09am.”

Reports were carried out into the damage caused, the total of which came to a staggering £10,768.80. Hosseni, of Salford, was arrested and interviewed the same day, and admitted to causing the damage.

He told the police he was making the scratches with a crystal ‘Buddhist head figure’, making ‘light language’ to express ‘love, unity and gratitude’ to the 22 who sadly died in the attack.

In victim impact