Laing, a sports technology student at Sheffield Hallam University, issued an apology for the image which apparently showed him soaking wreaths of poppies following a drinking session.

He was one of around 2,000 university students taking part in the Carnage UK event on Sunday evening. Organised through a website by a private company, students paid £10 each to take part in the drinking session. The event took place in Sheffield, but a similar one was held in Cardiff. In an apology issued through his university, Laing said: "I am deeply ashamed of this photograph and I am sincerely sorry for my behaviour.

"As soon as it was brought to police attention, officers began the process of tracing him so that he can be put before the Magistrates' Court. "South Yorkshire Police work closely with the organisers of this and other events to ensure students who are new to Sheffield fully understand that drunken and anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated. "Similar student events are a regular occurrence in Sheffield and are usually very well-run and well-organised by the Students' Union and the event organisers. Incidents of this nature are a very rare occurrence.

THE drunken student who desecrated a poppy-covered war memorial by urinating on it has had the “dressing down of his life” from his mother. Philip Laing, 19, has left his student digs after being ordered to stay away from Sheffield Hallam University while tutors decide whether to expel him Kathleen Laing spoke of her son’s despair after he arrived at her door in Macclesfield, Cheshire.

But she said that hadn’t prevented her from laying the law down over his disgraceful drunken behaviour.

“Yes, I’ve had very stern words with him,” she said, “it’s very sad and he’s very sorry. Actually, he’s beside himself.

“He has no recollection of what happened that night. It was a drunken pub crawl.”
Kathleen, a mother of four who works as an optician in Cheadle Hulme, appeared strained and upset as she spoke to the press about the furore. She added: “The photographer obviously followed them to get such a picture but it doesn’t in any way justify what my son did.”

Mrs Laing and her husband Robert sold their family home for £385,000 last month.
Yesterday there was fresh outrage as Laing was labelled a “hero” by pals on Facebook.

One friend described his actions as: “The most amazing thing i have ever seen...Im very proud!! LEGEND!!”. Another wrote: “hahaha yes phil u funny b****** quality mate”.

Laing’s Facebook page also revealed that his antics in Sheffield last Sunday are not uncommon, and dozens of photographs show him apparently drunk. In one he appears to have “crashed out”, still in the uniform of £8,700-a-year King’s School in Macclesfield, which he attended until last summer.
He has been arrested and charged with outraging public decency, and will face magistrates on Thursday. It is unlikely that his future on the three-year sports technology degree course, which he started last month, will be decided until after that hearing, but public anger in Sheffield is growing.
The university confirmed an investigation was under way and said Laing was not currently attending lectures. A university source said: “His actions have tarnished the university’s reputation.

“Our students have to live alongside the residents of Sheffield and when behaviour such as this is exposed it creates huge public anger.

Angry John Ievers, 49, had laid the commemorative cross to Private Edwin Ievers, who died at the Battle of Passchendaele, which was pictured in thenews being urinated on by Laing.

He said: “He should be made to clean the streets of Sheffield or do some kind of community service.”

David Ogle, 43, whose great grandfather Bob Hogan is named on the memorial, said: “I am absolutely outraged. The university should kick him off the course.

“He obviously has no respect for what these great men did for our country. His behaviour is an insult.”

Ken Riley, 84, a radio operator who fought in the Second World War, said: “This character must be the lowest of the low, especially when lads his own age are fighting and dying for this country over in Afghanistan.”

Laing was taking part in a seven-hour binge-drinking event in Sheffield when he was seen staggering towards the war memorial.Despite the monument having poppy wreaths on it, he brazenly unzipped his fly and began urinating. He then staggered away laughing before collapsing in a doorway. He was arrested on Thursday after officers were shown a photograph of the incident.

This is what The Middle Class do every weekend in Sheffield, as the Homeless people with drink problems are harassed on a very regular basis, South Yorkshire Police go out there way to protect those defecating Sheffield City Centre,