2 U.K. Men Get Four Years in Jail for Inciting Riots Via Facebook

2 U.K. Men Get Four Years in Jail for Inciting Riots Via Facebook

www.pcmag.com

Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, will spend the next four years in jail for their activities surrounding the London riots, "despite both being of previous good character," according to the U.K. Telegraph.

The paper said Blackshaw created a Facebook event called "Smash Down Northwich Town," and Sutcliffe-Keenan set up a page called "Warrington Riots" that invited people to cause chaos on August 10 between 7-10pm.

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The article in the Telegraph says :

The Prime Minister defended judges today after two Facebook users who tried to incite rioters to destroy their local towns were jailed for four years.

"I think it's right that we should allow the courts to make decisions about sentencing," said Mr Cameron.

"They decided in that court to send a tough sentence, send a tough message and I think it's very good that courts are able to do that."

"What happened on our streets was absolutely appalling behaviour and to send a very clear message that it's wrong and won't be tolerated is what the criminal justice system should be doing," he said during a visit to Cheshire to promote new enterprise zones.

The punishments were also welcomed by Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary.

Blackshaw, of Northwich, Cheshire, set up an event entitled "Smash Down Northwich Town", and Sutcliffe-Keenan, of Warrington, created the page "Let's Have a Riot in Latchford".

Four years is a very harsh sentence considering they didn't even manage to incite a riot in the area they were trying to. The judge probably went a little bit to far in this case. It would not surprise me if their sentences get drastically reduced if they appeal.

One thing is for sure people will think twice before trying to setup Facebook groups to do something like ths again in a hurry.

www.pcmag.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Call me a cynic but I think's there's some politics at work here. Racial tensions are high in the UK right now, and coming down hard on two white kids might be a way to show the minorities that the UK government is not prejudiced.

I just hope the people who were actually involved in the rioting will get similar treatment.

Is there a crime that they were accused of violating or is this just a 'message' sort of like putting the head of a horse in someone's bed?

reply to post by PhoenixOD

The Gov. want people to be scared because they are scared that it may happen again!
That may blow any chance of a sentence reduction.
I think the sentences are to extreme,
I wonder if their families will lose their social housing?
One thing I have noticed is, now that it is affecting young white males they all seem to think we should be going easy on people!!

reply to post by ararisq

Originally posted by ararisq
Is there a crime that they were accused of violating or is this just a 'message' sort of like putting the head of a horse in someone's bed?

According to the article in the Telegraph they were charged with inciting disorder, even though the riots they tried to plan never happened.

And these are the only two individuals that have been caught?
second line.

You only get 2 years for torturing and killing an infant (The case of baby P), The law is an ASS. So your saying that if these 2 guys hadn't posted on face book there would have been no riots?

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Heard this on the news this morning and the radio this afternoon, to be completely honest I find the sentences handed out rather extreme to say the least.

The riots we witnessed here in the UK during last week were nothing short of shocking, despicable, unbelievable; I could go on...

But seriously, just look at the picture of these two fools, hardly look like intelligent mastermind criminals do they?

Okay, they should be punished to a degree for trying to incite more riots but at the end of the day I believe in the concept of "the punishment should fit the crime", as far as I know these two men caused no physical damage but yet they get 4 years?

Just goes to show how effective our justice system is...

reply to post by Death_Kron


I totally agree theres no way this punishment fits the crime. Maybe the judge was angry that they were being so blantant about starting a riot using something as public as Facebook. At the end of the day they were unbelievably stupid trying to do this and thinking they would get away with it.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Like I said, look at their pictures; simply from the way they look I'd hazard a guess these two little bright uns would still place their hands in a fire...after they had been burned.

Plenty of people receive far lesser sentences for far greater crimes, I understand Cameron's trying to make a point but come on...

reply to post by Death_Kron


So if I start organising a mob to come and ransack your home then burn it down afterwards - how easily will I get off?

Originally posted by JohhnyBGood
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

So if I start organising a mob to come and ransack your home then burn it down afterwards - how easily will I get off?

I understand your point entirely, the intention was there. I'm not defending these two idiots but intention via written text on a website does not warrant four years punishment, hell people say plenty of things on this website they don't mean.

Should we punish the members on here who have said they are going to do something illegal and slap them with four year sentences?

You can't punish someone for freedom of speech I'm afraid, whether you like that speech or not.

Existing thread:

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Originally posted by FOXMULDER147
Call me a cynic but I think's there's some politics at work here. Racial tensions are high in the UK right now, and coming down hard on two white kids might be a way to show the minorities that the UK government is not prejudiced.

I think you are right in that this was politically motivated however, IMO politically motivated in a different way...

They will no doubt appeal and get a lighter sentence (which wont be covered in the press), this initial sentence of 4 years was a knee-jerk reaction to appease the daily mail readers et al...

reply to post by FOXMULDER147


The riots were nothing to do with race, most of the rioters in Manchester and Liverpool were white.
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This is a political move, most of the people involved in the disorder did so assuming punishment would be light and that the courts would be typically lenient. Sentences like this are more than likely the establishment's way to attempt to reassure the public that they aren't 'soft'.

I don't know if either of these two young lads had previous convictions but I do think that there is a line between two stupid kids deliberately inciting rioting and all that goes with it including arson, murder etc and two kids getting over excited and letting their key boards get ahead of themselves.

If you listen to men talking its often more bravado than intending any real action to be taken.

I hope they do appeal because its clear Cameron has told the courts to go for the maximum sentence. Whilst obviously no one wants riots to break out, our Government is just pushing and pushing us into an ever shrinking standard of living. Many of us work damn hard and its not appreciated, neither is it for older people who have paid for public services all their lives.