Big Brother star jailed for 2 years after helping in terrifying petrol bomb attack

Former Big Brother contestant Simone Reed has been handed a two year and eight month prison sentence after a Redcar petrol bomb was thrown at a man in February.

Reed, 36, who took part in the reality series in 2017, became embroiled in a violent row during a night out in Redcar, North Yorkshire, on February 15 with her friend Carl Wild, 37.

Having been denied entry to a bar, the pair drove to a local Esso to buy ingredients for a Molotov cocktail – including petrol, a fuel can, alcohol, rags and bleach – and returned armed with the weapon.

Reed watched as Wild threw a petrol bomb at David Brotton from just a few feet away, hitting him squarely in the head. Footage shows the victim rolling on the floor in pain outside the Peggy Junes Bar, trying to put out the flames.

Wild then stormed into the bar, hitting out at people, before smashing up furniture and robbing the till. He also squirted bleach at drinkers in what the court heard was acts of ‘appalling violence’, causing a ‘stampede’ of scared punters trying to escape, thinking they’d been doused in petrol.

Three people were taken to hospital with injuries which were described as ‘serious but not life-threatening’, Cleveland Police said.

Nick Dry, prosecuting, described how the events began when Wild exited the pub to watch a separate fight which had broken out outside, as he celebrated with a man who had pulled out a machete.

Seeing his behaviour, the landlord denied him entry and the pair got into a brawl of their own, before the petrol bomb plan was concocted. Wild reportedly threatened the owner of the Queen Street bar, saying he would ‘burn the place down and kill you and your kids,’ according to the BBC.

Reed was first to return back to the scene, demanding entry and explaining she’d left her mobile phone inside. She was refused so she threatened to set the bar alight.

Jailing Wild for 13 and a half years, Judge Francis Laird said it was ‘a determined act of revenge’, while the court heard how he had ‘terrified customers who thought they were being doused with petrol’. He was told he would serve five years on extended licence.

The former X Factor contestant admitted to encouraging her co-accused Carl Wild to buy the petrol used in the attack, according to The Northern Echo.

Reed, of Stockton-on-Tees, was jailed for two years and eight months for assisting in the commission of an offence, while Wild, of Redcar, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and aggravated burglary.

Reed first entered the public eye in 2014 when she auditioned for X Factor but did not make it through to live shows.

She later appeared on Big Brother’s 18th season, the penultimate series on Channel 5, but was evicted after 15 days.

After her stint on X Factor, Reed went viral for stripping in broad daylight at the Stockton job centre after being dared by a friend.

It was part of the NekNominate game but she also claimed it was a political protest, stating at the time: ‘The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer.

‘That’s why I did it as well,’ she added. ‘People are suffering.’

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