A Harry Potter star has issued an apology to wizarding fans from his prison cell after being jailed for taking part in last summer’s riots.

West Hampstead actor Jamie Waylett, who played school bully Vincent Crabbe in the hit films, was captured on CCTV swigging champagne from a looted shop in Chalk Farm.

He then primed a petrol bomb and stole off into Primrose Hill with a group of revellers.

The 22-year-old, who had already admitted to handling stolen goods, was found guilty of violent disorder by a jury at Wood Green Crown Court on Tuesday and sentenced to two years behind bars.

Waylett, who was axed from the Harry Potter franchise after a conviction for growing cannabis, has been incarcerated at Pentonville Prison in Islington. In a statement to the Ham&High he said: “I would like to unreservedly apologise for the offences committed and I would also like to add to that my heartfelt apology to the ever faithful Harry Potter fans.”

‘Awful episode’

Jurors heard how Waylett had been “fascinated” by the riots in last August and he went to Camden to witness the “madness”.

The court was shown footage of Waylett swaggering down Chalk Farm Road as looters raided Sainsbury’s on August 8.

He was handed a bottle of bubbly by a masked looter as they strolled away from the gutted shop. Later that evening he was captured on camera in Bridge Approach, hood up and clutching a beer bottle with a rag protruding from it.

Prosecutor Rebekah Hummerstone said the images showed him shaking the bottle to “prime the rag with petrol” but the jury cleared him of intending to destroy or damage property.

Sentencing Judge Simon Carr said: “You were pictured on a number of occasions with a bottle full of petrol with a rag as a wick.

“I accept entirely the jury’s verdict that you did not throw or have any intention of throwing it, but merely being in possession of it would have been terrifying to anyone who saw you.”

Waylett, who was accompanied to court by a family friend and a school pal, said he felt abandoned by his mother during his ordeal.

“I regret to say my manager and my mother did not attend court and have shown no interest or support towards me during this awful episode in my life,” said Waylett, who lived with his grandfather in Hillfield Road.

“It is with regret that I can only assume that from their lack of interest or contact that they no longer wish to be associated with me.”

Family friend Peter Hogan, who sat in the public gallery during the two-day trial, claimed Waylett had been left to ‘‘fend for himself’’ at a council house in Messina Avenue for six years before police raided the home to arrest him in September.

Mr Hogan, 45, said: “He has got nobody else in the world and no-one else gives a toss about him.”