An 18-year-old was spared prison after he threatened to burn down a mosque in an online video and shouted “vile” abuse aimed at Muslims from atop a phone box on Brighton seafront.
The offences took place on Sunday 4 August during more than a week of rioting and disorder after the murder of three little girls who were stabbed to death in Southport.
Max Ritchings, now 19, posted a video on Instagram. Against a backdrop of news footage of the riots, he said: “One more mosque, one more fucking mosque in the area, I will burn the fucking thing down.”
Later the same day, he stood atop a phone box near the Palace Pier, Brighton, wrapped in a St George’s flag, shouting anti-Islamic abuse and saying that foreigners should leave the country.
Not only were the offences committed during a period of public disorder but his outburst on Brighton seafront came as Pride weekend was drawing to a close.
At Lewes Crown Court, Ritchings pleaded guilty to inciting violence online and to religiously aggravated harassment. He sobbed in the dock when freed on bailed at a hearing in September.
At the end of last month, the vape shop worker, of Buckeridge Way, Haywards Heath, was back in court to be sentenced, knowing others had been jailed for similar offences.
Nicholas Hamblin, defending, told the court that Ritchings had turned himself in to the police when he learnt that officers had been to his home to try to find him.
Mr Hamblin also said that Ritchings had made “substantial changes” in his life in a brief time since his “grossly unpleasant misguided behaviour” and had sought help.
The barrister said that he was someone who had been easy to indoctrinate and recognised that he had become obsessed with online personalities but had since “detached himself”.
Judge Christine Laing, the honorary recorder of Brighton and Hove, said: “It has to be viewed against the background of unrest … taking place (around) the country … and this was your contribution.”
Judge Laing also said that while Ritchings had committed “very serious and troubling offences”, he had shown self-reflection and appeared to be keen to understand his own mental health difficulties.
The judge sentenced Ritchings to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years and ordered him to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the community.
He was also ordered to complete 18 sessions of rehabilitation activity at the sentencing hearing on Tuesday 26 November.
