Two men have been sent to prison for stirring up hatred and violence online after the Southport attack, in the first cases of their kind linked to the recent riots seen across the country.
Jordan Parlour, 28, was jailed for 20 months after pleading guilty to inciting racial hatred with Facebook posts in which he advocated an attack on a hotel in Leeds as part of the violent public disorder that swept England last week.
In Northampton, Tyler Kay, 26, was given three years and two months in prison for posts on X that called for mass deportation and for people to set fire to hotels housing asylum seekers.
They are the first people to be charged for posting criminal messages online linked to the recent far-right violence.
Parlour’s post said: “Every man and their dog should be smashing [the] fuck out [of] Britannia hotel.” More than 200 refugees and asylum seekers lived at the hotel. The initial post received six likes, but could be forwarded more widely owing to Parlour’s privacy settings.
Passing sentence on Friday, the judge, Guy Kearl KC, accepted Parlour took no part in the violence but said: “There can be no doubt you were inciting others to do so.
“You went on to say that you did not want your money going to immigrants who ‘rape our kids and get priority’,” Kearl said. “You were encouraging others to attack a hotel which you knew was occupied by refugees and asylum seekers.”
Nicholas Hammond, mitigating, told the judge Parlour was “not part of any sinister group activity designed to stir up violence” and was “not affiliated with any group”.
In a letter to court, his mother said: “We can only speculate he’s been caught up and swept away by emotions circulating throughout the country.”
Parlour appeared to blow a raspberry as he was led from the court. Rosemary Ainslie, the acting head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: “Let me be absolutely clear, people who think they can hide behind their keyboards and stir up racial hatred should think again.”
Kay used his own name and profile picture on his account, while advising others on “staying anon” and saying he had “watched enough CSI programmes” and would “categorically not be arrested”. He also tagged Northamptonshire police force in one of his posts.
Elsewhere, a woman who pushed a burning wheelie bin into a police line before falling to the ground and being arrested was jailed for 20 months. Stacey Vint, 34, was sentenced for her part in the riots in Middlesbrough town centre on Sunday.
Charlie Bullock, 21, who was described as “the main instigator” of a large group pushing against a police line and throwing stones and rocks at officers, was jailed for 18 months.
In Sunderland, a balaclava-wearing rioter identified by his distinctive tattoos was jailed for two-and-a-half years. Josh Kellett, 29, was identified by an anonymous member of the public who watched a live stream of the riot and contacted police to say they recognised a person throwing stones at police.
Jordan Plain, 30, was jailed for eight months after he was filmed making monkey gestures and shouting “rubber lips” towards black and Asian people as hundreds of people took part in rival demonstrations in Leeds city centre.
Jordan Davies, 32, was jailed for two years and four months after he was seen with a knife near a vigil for the victims of the Southport stabbing. Sentencing him, the judge Dennis Watson KC said Davies was on his way to join a “mob” who had seen an opportunity to “stir up trouble”.
Kay, Vint, Bullock, Plain and Davies all pleaded guilty to their charges. Senior police officers have said rapid sentencing has helped act as a deterrent to far-right agitators. But those who are jailed will be entering a prison system at maximum capacity and could be released from prison early under a scheme to tackle overcrowding, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed.
Last month, ministers announced they were changing the law to allow some criminals to leave prison early because of a lack of space. This means that prisoners who do not fall into exempt categories, such as those serving sentences for serious crimes, will be released under the new scheme after they have served 40% of their sentences, rather than 50%.
The release points for those convicted of involvement in violent disorder will depend upon the offence they are convicted of and the sentence they receive. Sentences for serious violent offences of four years or more, including arson and terrorism-related offences, are among those excluded from the early release scheme.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The government has brought in over 500 new prison places early, to ensure there is a cell waiting for everyone involved in the recent disorder and thuggery. The lord chancellor was forced to introduce the emergency capacity measures last month, to address the prison crisis the government inherited.”
Source: theguardian.com
