Two Brits jailed for online racial hatred crimes

 

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Posted on 13 Jul 2009 at 12:13

Two Britons have been jailed after being convicted of inciting racial hatred via a foreign website - a first in British courts.

Simon Sheppard, 51, from Selby in North Yorkshire, and Stephen Whittle, 42, from Preston, were charged with publishing and distributing racially inflammatory material, and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.

Before the jury could return their verdicts in last year's trial, the two fled to the US after being convicted in Leeds Crown Court in July last year, where they argued that, because their websites were hosted on servers in the United States, they did not fall under the jurisdiction of UK law and were protected under the First Amendment.

They sought political asylum at Los Angeles International Airport, but their bid was thrown out by a US immigration judge.

Judge Rodney Grant told Sheppard and Whittle that their material, which included images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups, was "abusive and insulting" and could cause "grave social harm".

"Such offences as these have, by their very nature, the potential to cause grave social harm, particularly in a society such as ours, which has, for a number of years now, been multi-racial," added Grant. "These are serious offences. I can say without any hesitation that I have rarely seen, or had to read or consider, material which is so abusive and insulting. . . .towards racial groups within our own society."

Sheppard received four years 10 months for 16 offences, while Whittle was sentenced to two years four months after being found guilty on five counts.

Author: Tim Smalley