Posted on 11/17/2014 10:05:49 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine
Four men were jailed for throwing a severed pig’s head into a mosque in Lancashire last May.
Shocked women and children watched as the four friends dumped a carrier bag containing the severed head in the parking lot of Blackpool Central Mosque.
Preston Crown Court was told the four men had organized the crime—which came only two days after the murder of solider Lee Rigby in May 2013—as a prank, knowing it would be seen as an insult in a Muslim place of worship.
The four men—Thomas Ashton, 21; Andrew Warner, 31; Travis Crabtree, 25; and Steven White, 28—are all from Blackpool or Lytham-St.-Annes. They were locked up on Monday for a total of just over three years. Crabtree was given 14 months in prison. Ashton, White and Warner were each given ten, eight, and seven months, respectively.
Investigating police found taunting messages on White’s Facebook, which read “They will be fuming.”
Mirror reports that the four men admitted to religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress last May in the aftermath of the bloody murder of Rigby in Woolwich, London.
Lawyers for the four men stated that the men were not racists, noting that the incident was “a prank that went horribly wrong.” Another lawyer added that they had just been “swept up in the moment.”
An imam, a leader of the mosque, had pleaded for clemency for the men. Judge Graham Knowles QC, however, said that only jail was appropriate.
“People are and must be free to worship as they please and without this kind of foul attack on them and that which they hold sacred,” Knowles stated.
The judge went on to say to the men that “what you four did must be denounced.”
Prosecutor Clare Thomas said a volunteer received a Facebook message that an unpleasant package had been sent to the mosque; the volunteer then discovered the pig’s head in a carrier bag outside the mosque.
“It sent a shiver down his spine,” Thomas said. “Pigs and items relating to them are forbidden for Muslims to touch or have contact with.”
“Its presence at a place of worship was highly insulting,” Thomas continued. “Parents and children had started to arrive at the mosque. Some of them saw the head and felt offended and angry.”
England better wake up quick. Would have got less time for setting a match to the place.
That’s too bad. They were just trying to share some bacon.
I wish I would have been on that jury.
Sounds quite Soviet.
They should have called it “art”. Hey, it worked for Andres Serrano. Then again, he wasn’t bashing islam, was he?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2934590/posts
Wow - that's a new one to me. The Christians have been dealing with that for years; maybe some hot shot lawyers who have no problem going for the jugular can start billing some hours, and go after these people.
Seems to me they can start with that Houston mayor who subpoenad a church for the sermon papers.
“If you’re going to dump a pig’s head, dump it. Don’t talk.”
The judge went on to say to the men that “what you four did must be denounced.”
Clearly, the judge was animated by a sense of political correctness.
The only good thing (as far as I can see) is that this did not happen in the US--although it probably could have...
I understand that it was extremely insensitive, but it is an example of hysterical political correctness and outright Tyranny.
It really doesn't amount to much more than Free Speech, albeit it was exercised on someone's private property, apparently.
3 months might even have been excessive, but 3 years for such a crime is a clear indication that one is living in a Totalitarian Police State.
Sounds like work-place violence to me.
Just let them off with a warning.
This would get nothing more than community service, if the church had been Christian.
Perhaps others will provide them a reward —
Read this one.
Don’t jump to any conclusions folks.
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/christian-churches-vandalized-quran-verses
Orwell was a Briton. He knew what a pig is.
They should have been knighted instead.
The paper should be coming out below the curly bit of the critter, and the chickenscratch should be formed by the slippage on the sand.
JMHO, YMMV.
They pled guilty so there was no trial or jury.
When will people figure out that it is a bad idea to admit your crimes on social media?
Pointless to go to trial after you have confessed to the world.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.