close
close
Two men arrested for spreading hate speech online

The first prison sentences were imposed for inciting unrest on social media, while further sentences were imposed in response to the wave of unrest and riots.

More than a dozen people were jailed on Friday for their involvement in the riots sparked by the killing of three children in Southport last month.

Among them were 26-year-old Tyler Kay and 28-year-old Jordan Parlour, who were sentenced to 38 and 20 months in prison respectively for inciting racial hatred on social media.

A total of 118 people have now been jailed for their involvement in some of the worst riots in Britain in over a decade.

Parlour, from Seacroft in the Leeds area, had called on Facebook for an attack on a hotel housing refugees and asylum seekers, making him the first person to be jailed for inciting racial hatred during the riots.

He had broken his heel and was at home when he wrote the posts that were reported to the police.

Kay was convicted after calling on social media to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers.

The father of three, who pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court, denied trying to incite racial hatred but admitted “in hindsight” that some of his posts “made him look like an idiot”.

Judge Adrienne Lucking said she was “absolutely certain” that he knew racial hatred would be “stirred up” after he wrote “utterly abhorrent, racist and shocking posts that have no place in a civilized society.”

Richard Williams, 34, was the first Welshman to be convicted of offences related to the recent unrest.

He posted about his participation in a riot and shared a derogatory meme about migrants in a local Facebook group dedicated to protests.

At Leeds Crown Court, 30-year-old Jordan Plain was sentenced to eight months in prison for intentional racial harassment.

Plain, from Horsforth, Leeds, was filmed making racist gestures and shouting racist comments.

Sameer Ali and Adnan Ghafoor were also sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

Their crimes followed an anti-immigration protest and counter-demonstration in Leeds city centre on 3 August.

Both men were found guilty of causing the riot. Ali, 21, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, while Ghafoor, 31, was given a two-and-a-half-year sentence after the court found he had breached a suspended sentence for a traffic offence.

Suspended Labour councillor Ricky Jones has been charged with inciting violent unrest in connection with comments he made at a counter-demonstration in London.

He was filmed addressing a crowd in Walthamstow on Wednesday, reportedly saying that members of the far right should have their throats slit.

Leanne Hodgson, 43, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for repeatedly knocking over industrial waste bins in front of a police cordon in Sunderland.

Stacey Vint, 40, who pushed a burning bin into a line of police officers in Middlesbrough, has been sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Around 741 people have now been arrested, and 302 of them have been charged, the National Council of Police Chiefs said.

After a week of unrest in towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland, the night from Wednesday to Thursday was relatively calm, although protests against racism took place in several areas.

Unrest continues in Northern Ireland. Police blame pro-British paramilitaries for fuelling the nightly violence in Belfast.

But on Friday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said police would remain on “high alert” this weekend as the challenges officers face “are also compounded by the start of the football season”.

Some far-right rioters are said to have links to the decades-old English football hooligan scene, which has disappeared since the 1980s but still causes violent clashes on match days.

The National Council of Police Chiefs said more than 6,000 officers trained in public order will be on duty over the weekend.

By Bronte

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *