RANK and file firefighters in Kent feel colleague Garry Mann, facing a two-year jail sentence for his part in a soccer riot in Portugal, should be dismissed from the service if he was guilty of rioting.

Mann, 47, from Faversham, is expected to be returned to England shortly to begin his sentence.

A number of other soccer thugs involved in causing trouble in Albufeira were deported yesterday but Mann was not among them.

Mann claimed in court in Portugal that he was innocent of any involvement in a riot in Albufeira. But a large number of his colleagues in the Kent Fire and Rescue Service say that if he was not telling the truth he should be sacked.

One of them said: "Scenes like those we have witnessed on our television screens bring discredit to the service. There will always be a few firefighters who will feel sorry for him and think that he should be allowed to keep his job.

"But the vast majority feel he should be dismissed if he let the service down. I'm among them."

Meanwhile, more details are emerging about Mann. His involvement in the events in Portugal has come as a big surprise to a woman he helped out last month during a charity stunt.

Margaret Allen, 60, of Albert Road, Canterbury, said she couldn't believe the news after meeting him.

Mrs Allen had climbed a crane in Canterbury city centre, inching her way along the jib and raising £1,500 for the Pilgrims Hospice and the Samaritans. She was helped by two firefighters who were using the crane for a training exercise, one of them Garry Mann.

She said: "He was a very pleasant man. He probably thought I was an idiot climbing the crane and we had a lot of laughs and jokes on the way. He helped me along the jib and his harness was clipped to mine. We said this must be what it's like to climb Everest. We came down and he gave me a big hug and said 'well done'.

"Then the firemen carried out an exercise where they had to rescue someone from the top of the crane and they used a stuffed doll.

"I was totally shocked when I opened the newspaper and read that he had been involved in football violence. I don't know what possessed him."

KM-fm's Ben Biddulph has more...