Newcastle: prison sentence for man who threatened to burn down mosques

British justice has just sentenced a 34-year-old man to 20 months in prison in the north-east of England. Newcastle Crown Court found the defendant guilty of posting threatening content on social media.

The individual, father of four and resident of the Northumberland region, posted a video on TikTok last August. In this recording made under the influence of alcohol, he announced his intention to organize violent actions against the city’s mosques. Judge Carolyn Scott particularly emphasized the seriousness of the comments made in this four-minute video, emphasizing their “particularly offensive and dangerous” nature in a local context already tense following the events in Southport.

Investigators noted in particular in the video stigmatizing remarks towards certain communities and explicit calls for collective violence, with the man evoking the organization of a march in Newcastle to carry out his threats. Despite mitigating circumstances, including diagnosed behavioral disorders and full confessions, the court considered that a prison sentence was necessary, recalling that this type of speech “can have serious consequences on the lives of others.