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Southampton Facebook riot messages man jailed | Southampton Facebook riot messages man jailed |
(39 minutes later) | |
A mechanic who used Facebook to call for disorder during last summer's riots has been jailed for three years. | A mechanic who used Facebook to call for disorder during last summer's riots has been jailed for three years. |
Mitchell Stancombe, from Totton, Southampton, told the city's crown court he was only joking, but he was convicted of encouraging and assisting people to commit violent disorder. | Mitchell Stancombe, from Totton, Southampton, told the city's crown court he was only joking, but he was convicted of encouraging and assisting people to commit violent disorder. |
One message said: "When are we going to start the Southampton riots then?" | One message said: "When are we going to start the Southampton riots then?" |
Judge Gary Burrell accepted the posts did not lead to violence but said the sentence would be a deterrent. | Judge Gary Burrell accepted the posts did not lead to violence but said the sentence would be a deterrent. |
Defence barrister Mark Ashley called Stancombe's actions a "stupid and foolish few minutes of his life". | |
'Blown out of proportion' | |
Stancombe claimed he had not intended to start a riot and that his Facebook comments had been "blown out of proportion". He said they were "stupid and immature". | |
He made three posts on his personal page of the social networking site on 9 August, two urging others to attack the police and Muslims. | |
Jurors were told that when a friend responded with a post saying "hush your gums", he replied: "LOL - do a few coppers in." | |
The posts, which could be viewed by anyone, were made during widespread rioting in Birmingham, Manchester, Derby, London and Liverpool. | |
Hampshire police had been monitoring social networking sites during the riots and arrested Stancombe after seeing his Facebook page. | |
Stancombe denied the charge under section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007. | |
Jailing him, Judge Burrell told Stancombe that the jail term was a "deterrent sentence to demonstrate this type of conduct will not be tolerated by the courts". |