Pro-riot care worker suspended after Facebook comment

A care worker has been suspended after posting pro-rioting messages on Facebook.

John Hannan, a former support worker from Merseyside, left comments on the social networking site’s ‘Lets Get The Riots To Liverpool’ page, inciting people to join in with the violence and looting.

His comments were brought to the attention of his employer, Sanderling House, a Liverpool-based care home for people with acquired brain injuries, on 9 August.

The home suspended Hannan and asked Facebook to take the comments down. The page has now been taken off the website.

A spokesperson for Voyage, which runs Sanderling House, said: “Although the material did not refer to Voyage, its staff or service users, we were extremely concerned about the nature of the comments.

“We have a clear policy on the use of social media and all staff members are briefed about this.

“We will not tolerate what we perceive to be unacceptable behaviour and that’s why we took swift and immediate action once this matter was brought to our attention.”

Hannan told local newspaper The Liverpool Echo: “I never meant to incite hate or for people to burn down houses. I was saying about the way police treat us, like what happened to Mark Duggan [the man shot by police in Tottenham, whose death sparked the London riots].”

He added: “What I was trying to say was if you riot you should riot against the police and not anyone else. What is the point of burning cars and houses?”

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