A rioter seen clutching a teddy bear in one hand and a football in the other was suffering from mental illness at the time of the disturbances, a Court heard.

Shakeel Qazi was also caught on video as he threw missiles at police, threw a petrol bomb at a car and twice picked up a gas canister.

He was involved in the violent scenes over a five-hour period, prosecutor John Topham told Bradford Crown Court.

He was arrested several months after the incidents but initially denied being involved. At one stage he spoke to someone at a gym club and told them the police could not prove anything against him as he had a letter from his doctor.

By January this year he admitted being the person in police videos but said he had no recollection of the incidents due to mental health problems that affected his memory.

Qazi, 22, of Garfield Avenue, Manningham, Bradford, pleaded guilty to riot.

But after hearing that he was suffering from hypomania at the time of offence, Judge Stephen Gullick decided to spend the weekend thinking about whether a custodial sentence was appropriate.

Announcing that he would pass sentence on Monday morning, the judge said: "I am considering various options that are available to me. I have not decided yet what is the appropriate sentence in your case."

Granting Qazi bail, the judge said it should not be taken as any indication of whether he would go to jail and he told him: "You may do so -- you may not."

The court heard that Qazi had been unwell since September 2000 and in May last year his father took him to Pakistan in the hope it might help. His condition worsened and on July 4 -- three days before the riots -- he was taken to see the family doctor, who diagnosed depression and prescribed anti-depressants.

It was not until early August that hypomania was diagnosed. That condition could have affected his ability to make choices.

Richard Gioserano, mitigating, said the issue was whether a distinction could be drawn between his client and those around him during the riots in terms of his culpability. He had received treatment for his condition and by December there had been a marked improvement.