Two men jailed for stirring up hatred online

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Two men have been jailed for stirring up hatred on social media during the widespread disorder across parts of the UK.

Tyler Kay, 26, was sentenced to 38 months in prison for publishing “utterly repulsive, racist” posts on X.

Jordan Parlour, 28, received a 20-month prison sentence for publishing written material intended to stir racial hatred on Facebook.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has warned social media is not a “law-free zone” and the sentences should serve as a reminder that anyone involved, either directly or remotely, is “culpable”.

On Friday, judges across the UK continued to deliver prison sentences for a range of crimes including pushing bins at police officers to racially-aggravated harassment.

Kay was convicted after he used social media to call for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight.

The father-of-three pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced by Judge Adrienne Lucking at Northampton Crown Court.

In court, Kay denied intending to stir up racial hatred, but admitted “in hindsight” some of his posts “made [him] look like an idiot”.

Judge Lucking said she was “completely sure” he knew racial hatred would be “stirred up” after writing “utterly repulsive, racist and shocking posts that have no place in civilised society”.

Parlour, of Seacroft, Leeds, also pleaded guilty to posting material on Facebook calling for an attack on a hotel housing refugees and asylum seekers.

He had suffered a broken heel and was at home when he wrote the posts, which were reported to the police.

Elsewhere, Richard Williams, 34, became the first person from Wales to be convicted and sentenced for offences associated with the recent disorder.

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

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

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

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

Their offences took place following an anti-immigration protest and a counter-demonstration in Leeds city centre on 3 August.

Both men were found guilty of affray. Ali, 21, was jailed for 20 months, while Ghafoor, 31, received a two-and-a-half-year sentence after the court heard he had breached a suspended sentence for driving offences.

Suspended Labour councillor Ricky Jones was charged with encouraging violent disorder in connection with comments at a London counter-protest.

He was filmed addressing a crowd in Walthamstow on Wednesday, and reportedly said members of the far-right should have their throats cut.

Leanne Hodgson, 43, was jailed for two and a half years for repeatedly pushing industrial bins at a police line in Sunderland.

Stacey Vint, 40, who pushed a burning wheelie bin into a row of police officers in Middlesbrough, was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Some 159 people have been charged since violent disorder spread across the UK following the killing of three girls in Southport, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Almost 600 people have been arrested in relation to the disorder so far and Sir Starmer has urged police to “stay on high alert” this weekend.

Meanwhile, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has urged the government to revisit social media rules, saying the recent disorder showed regulations due to come into force were “not fit for purpose”.

The Online Safety Act will, for the first time, make firms legally responsible for keeping users safe when they use their services.

It will require platforms to put in place clear and proportionate safety measures to prevent illegal and other harmful content from appearing and spreading on their sites.

Platforms will be required to take “robust action” against illegal content and activity, including around offences such as inciting violence.

The biggest platforms could face billions of pounds in fines if they do not comply.

The sentences on Friday followed two nights of relative calm across England, after a week of near nightly unrest in more than a dozen towns and cities.

The unrest was sparked by the deadly knife attack in Southport, Merseyside, that killed three children.

Disturbances have continued in Northern Ireland, where police have blamed pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries for fuelling nightly violence in Belfast.



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