A Scots waitress has appeared in court in south London yesterday accused of smashing-up an ambulance car amidst celebrations after an England victory at the world cup.
Larissa Bell, 21, from East Kilbride appeared in the dock at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court alongside two Englishmen and a Singaporean to face a charge of criminal damage.
Bell was allegedly pictured on top of the wrecked emergency vehicle after England beat Sweden 2-0 in the quarter-final tie in Russia on Saturday July 7.
The court heard a total of £6,867.42 damage was caused to the vehicle and it had to be taken out of service for 34 days because of the damage.
Bell appeared alongside Kangyue Jian, 27, of Poplar in east London, James Elton, 27, of West Hampstead and Scott Dennett, 25, of Thornton-Cleveleys in Lancashire.
Bell and Dennett did not indicate pleas during the 15-minute hearing, while Elton and Jian both pleaded not guilty.
Dami Eniola, prosecuting, said: “England had won the match that day and, as a result, thousands of people gathered outside to watch the match and support England.
“After the match the crowd started moving to Borough Market on to Southwark Street.”
She said that during the celebrations police asked the driver of the ambulance car to park it in the road.
Miss Eniola said: “She looked around the area and she saw a member of the public stumble in front of her. He had a head wound and she went to provide him with medical assistance.
“During that time the final whistle went for the game. Members of the public surrounded the vehicle. There were individuals jumping on top of it.
“This caused damage to the wing mirror of the ambulance. The bonnet was dented. The windshield was smashed.
The vehicle was forced out of service for repairs as ambulance bosses said the vandalism “put a dampener” on the cup celebrations.
But football fans rallied to raise cash for the repairs, with Millwall supporters alone pulling together £10,000.
A Skoda dealership also offered to repair the vehicle free-of-charge, so the money raised went instead towards restoring a historic ambulance.
Miss Eniola said the criminal damage charge had a starting point of 12 weeks in prison but said all defendants had previously been of “good character”.
Chair of the bench Finola Gowers bailed the four to appear at Inner London Crown Court in January.
