To think this shouldn't result in a prison sentence

[Codie22345]

I've read that idiot who showed the picture of that poor little boy at the football match is facing jail. Showing that picture was incredibly cruel, nasty, spiteful and many other things. That poor boy suffered with cancer and his family lost him so young.
However I do not believe this man should go to jail for showing the image. He rightfully deserves to be named and shamed, cautioned, possibly banned from future matches. But I don't understand why he should be going to prison over it.

Not the point, but who the fuck are Sunderland United?

Also, that bigot Defoe didn't half take advantage of the situation to improve his image.

Service at a hospice? Lots of ill people to photograph there.

If convicted under the Public Order Act the maximum time he can be imprisoned for is six months. Seems reasonable. He may well only be fined.

Vile man. Cannot imagine how Bradley’s family must have felt. Prosecution said on being questioned he said he felt it was a laugh and funny banter. It is right that he is going to bed worrying he is off to jail- but my bet is community service. I hope it is a number of hundreds of hours doing something really unpleasant.

I'm a Wednesday supporter as well, though with the state of the team at the moment, I'm a bit ashamed

I think he will either get a tag or the alcohol tag, a community order & a drug rehabilitation order plus a football banning order.

YABU he’s a brainless callous idiot who deserves to be made an example of.

100% chance that if you fined him he just wouldn’t pay (I bet he’s not working) then someone would have to pay more taxpayer’s money to enforce it through the courts and let’s be honest he’s hardly likely to have prestige assets to enforce it against.

Amen to this. I wouldn't let this waste of skin within a 10 mile radius of a kid's hospital or cancer unit. It's not the job of those kids or their parents to be emotional support humans/perform emotional labour to educate someone about something that is just so patently, breathtakingly obvious that it shouldn't need explaining. Coked up peace of shit.

This cretin lives in our village, and he's been kicked off his football and cricket team, banned from his local pub and the cricket club. Oh and and apparently lost his job.
Not laughing now.

He has he is now completely ostracized hopefully with his moron brother.

That said the football community with the threats of violence against him and his family havent painted a great picture of theirselves and I'd dare say there is a few who ought to be arrested for their threats.

Those are worse punishments than prison tbh.

“So why did you leave your last job?... ”

Not when we continually have men in possession of thousands of child sexual abuse pictures, strolling out of the courtroom.

The 2 men are dickheads. But that's what free speech is.
A fine would have been better.

There's a baying mob mentality with anything I find. People want the worst punishment possible for anything. They will happily see this man's life ruined. They would be happy for him to never work again and be locked in a cell for the rest of his days. What he did was disgraceful and hideous. But the fact that people want his entire life to be over is quite frightening.

They'd even be happy for him to get beaten to a pulp. He's not a nice person, evidently. However people have this sick thirst for wanting someone's life to be ended, it's evident from some posters and it's just too much.

Social media doesn't help. I genuinely think it's a blight on modern society.

It can bring out the worst in people, especially the anonymity it provides.

Yes I agree. Remember when people were desperate to 'make an example ' of Caroline Flack.

i agree, about social media
it should be a cautionary tale - like black mirror

Oh come on, if he gets a prison sentence it’s because that’s available to the judge who deals with the sentencing for that crime as a matter of law. That’s because (we) society take that kind of behaviour seriously enough to merit it- and quite rightly too given that (as many people have pointed out) it was not just callous and cruel, but also extremely dangerous in a football ground.

And besides by your logic he’d be safer in prison anyway 🤷‍♀️

He lost his job??

I'd like to know on what grounds.

His employer might need to buckle up for an employment tribunal.
How he behaved at a football match (in his own time, etc), has fuck all to do with his employer.

This person is probably eligible to be on a jury of your peers. Terrifying.

From what I read he has only recently left his previous job so if there less than 2 years they can get rid.

Freedom from legal consequences is exactly what it does mean.

They still can't get rid of an employee because 'villagers with pitchforks and torches banged on the door of the castle'.

Not really. Mischievously shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre, resulting in crush and injury, would be a criminal offence and civil wrong. Defamation and harassment with words are wrongs that can be sued on or are criminal offences (harassment). There are others.

I do agree that we need to very careful about restricting speech though. Action against this bloke is probably justifiable on the public order basis, but not on the basis of causing offence in itself.

I was absolutely appalled by this. Unfortunately, and reluctantly I have come to the conclusion that the law courts should not punish this man.

My issue is that ultimately, to try and convict this man someone must be the arbiter or what outrages public decency.

To me, this is the absolute height of outraging public decency and I would love to throw the book at him. But other people saw the Satanic Verses as the worst offense to public decency and wanted Salmon Rushdie executed. Some celebrities expressed their hope publicly that our then Prime Minister would succumb to covid. BLM activists have been known to call for genocide of white people. If you let these things slide, where is the line?

This man should be banned from every football ground in the land as that is a decision for the football authorities and clubs. And privately, I hope the lads at this guys local express their outrage to him in their own special way. He shouldn't go unpunished and I'm sure he won't do, but state prosecution spooks me.