Does anyone here think this man should go to jail?

[Guest]

Okay, he's a complete ********, and none of us would want him as a friend. But two months in jail?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/ann-maguire-stabbing-twitter-troll-robert-riley-jailed-for-posting-offensive-tweets-9339314.html

I thought it might be because his teacher comment could be interpreted as threatening, (if you squint hard enough) but he was found guilty of being offensive, not threatening.

Edit> A thought occurs. The Independent is a pay site so the article might not be available to all who click on the link. It was short, so I posted the text.

A man who sent offensive messages on Twitter regarding the murder of Leeds teacher Ann Maguire has been jailed for eight weeks.

His messages came after 61-year-old Ann Maguire was stabbed to death in her classroom in late April, at the school where she had taught for four decades.

Twitter troll Robert Riley wrote on the social media website, using the handle jongriley001, that he would have killed “all the bastard teachers” at Corpus Christi School in Leeds.

The 42-year-old from Cwmavon, Port Talbot, also posted a series of racist tweets in which he called the Nazi death camp Auschwitz a "health spa", and suggested that Muslim babies should be drowned.

Despite being confronted by a backlash from other Twitter users, Riley initially revelled in his new found notoriety, and boasted that he had the "biggest gob this side of the River Severn".

Riley pled guilty at Swansea magistrates to one charge of sending a grossly offensive message via a public communications network.

Chairwoman of the bench Georgina Scannell voiced said she was left with no choice but to send the defendant straight to jail.

She said: "The offensive messages outraged the public. You had complete disregard for the tragic death of AnnMaguire.

"Besides this, countless other vile messages were made by you.

"The bench finds these were racially and religious aggravated.

"The offences are so serious that only a period of immediate custody can be justified."

Edited May 9, 2014 by bcsapper

[kimmy]

I agree with your point of view.

However, it's England and their laws are not ours.

In Canada, we had laws on the books to enforce "community standards" (I think they have been struck down by the courts) and it seems likely that such laws, if they still existed, could be deemed to apply to the sort of stuff this guy wrote. If such laws remain on the books in England, he was probably in breech of them.

I think the guy is a turd, but I don't agree with jail time for this sort of thing.

-k

[Argus]

Free speech has been strictly curtailed in a lot of European countries, especially the UK and France, mostly in the name of not offending people from minority cultures. You can literally go to jail for saying something racist in the UK, even if you're nobody and you just say it in a bar or on the sidewalk.

The gratifying results of these caring and considerate laws can be seen in the race riots which periodically take place in the UK and France, and the degree to which a number of immigrant groups feel contempt for their countries, and feel like outsiders.

[Guest]

The only other case I can think of in the UK was the Fabrice Muamba case. A person was jailed for offensive tweets made when a black footballer died and was revived during an English Premier League match.

Strangely enough, it was Swansea too.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-17515992

Edited May 9, 2014 by bcsapper

[eyeball]

Edit> A thought occurs. The Independent is a pay site so the article might not be available to all who click on the link. It was short, so I posted the text.

A solution to this is to right-click on the page, as its loading and before the paywall kicks in, and then click print and save the article as a pdf to your desktop.

[Topaz]

Wouldn't this be considered a "hate" crime which is against the law in Ontario, if not across Canada. I know the feds are working on stuff like this now in one of their many huge budget bills, that usually have nothing to do with the budget.

[Wilber]

A couple of months in the slammer won't do this creep any harm at all. Sure isn't going to screw him up any more than he already is. Jailable offense? I don't know about that. Eventually he'll get his without the courts getting involved.

[Big Guy]

If it causes some people to think twice before clicking on the "send" icon then it will be worth the lesson.

[PIK]

Gotta love social media , brings all the jerks to the top.

[guyser]

Gotta love social media , brings all the jerks to the top.

Hmm....that would appear so.

Ironic isnt it?

[Argus]

Wouldn't this be considered a "hate" crime which is against the law in Ontario, if not across Canada. I know the feds are working on stuff like this now in one of their many huge budget bills, that usually have nothing to do with the budget.

No. There's nothing illegal against making racist or offensive tweats and such. The only time hate laws kick in is when you really make a career of denigrating other races and basically trying to encourage/advocate some kind of illegal action against them.

Edited May 9, 2014 by Argus

[Argus]

A couple of months in the slammer won't do this creep any harm at all.

We already pay a lot of money to put violent people in jail. Do we really want to be paying to put jerks in jail too?

[Wilber]

We already pay a lot of money to put violent people in jail. Do we really want to be paying to put jerks in jail too?

We aren't paying for it.

[Guest]

eyeball, on 09 May 2014 - 08:23 AM, said:

A solution to this is to right-click on the page, as its loading and before the paywall kicks in, and then click print and save the article as a pdf to your desktop.

I never thought of doing that. I delete cookies every now and then, but that only works sometimes. Thanks.

[WestCoastRunner]

This could be taken as threatening to other teachers and should probably be taken seriously. I have no problem with the jail time.

[Guest]

WestCoastRunner, on 09 May 2014 - 6:27 PM, said:

This could be taken as threatening to other teachers and should probably be taken seriously. I have no problem with the jail time.

I thought about that angle, but there was no charge of threatening. He was jailed for being offensive. I find that stunning.

[OftenWrong]

Advocating that all the teachers should have been killed, sounds like a psychopath to me. 8 weeks is not enough. This man is mentally ill,he should be forced into therapy.

[WestCoastRunner]

Advocating that all the teachers should have been killed, sounds like a psychopath to me. 8 weeks is not enough. This man is mentally ill,he should be forced into therapy.

It's a threatening statement. Period. He should have been thrown in the slammer.

[Guest]

WestCoastRunner, on 09 May 2014 - 7:01 PM, said:

It's a threatening statement. Period. He should have been thrown in the slammer.

He should have been charged with making a threatening statement then. That would have given him the opportunity to defend himself on that charge.

There's no getting around the fact that he was jailed for giving offense.

[WestCoastRunner]

He should have been charged with making a threatening statement then. That would have given him the opportunity to defend himself on that charge.

There's no getting around the fact that he was jailed for giving offense.

Agreed.

[-TSS-]

If a 42-year old person is silly enough to post such messages to the social media that alone should be an alleviating circumstance because a person that old doing that is obviously not at the level of his physical age.

[overthere]

The UK has some odd legislation, experiments in social engineering.

The Anti Social Behaviour Order- ASBO- in an example. It's a civil enforcement measure(and there is a companion criminal measure). Some of the things that can result in an ASBO:

• abandoning cars
• arson
• begging
• casteism
• dangerous driving
• defecating/urinating in public
• disturbing the peace
• dogging (exhibitionistic public sex)
• drug dealing/consumption of controlled recreational drugs
• drunken behaviour
• fare evasion
• homophobia
• intimidation
• littering/fly tipping/dog fouling
• loitering (with intent)
• noise pollution
• paedophilia
• racism
• rioting
• rudeness
• smoking in public places
• spitting
• stealing/mugging/shoplifting
• urban exploration
• vandalism/criminal damage/graffiti