Riots

Woman jailed for Facebook post inciting violence against a mosque

August 14, 2024
Julie Sweeney, 53
  • National Police Chiefs' Council said that 1,024 people had been arrested.

  • 575 had been charged

After acknowledging that she had posted a menacing message on Facebook, encouraging people to blow up a mosque, the lady was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

 Upon a local Facebook community page, Julie Sweeney, 53, left a remark on a picture of several individuals tidying up the aftermath of the Southport violence.

She wrote on August 3: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. Don’t protect the mosques. Blow the mosques up with the adults in it.”

Upon her arrest, she told officers: “I’m not being rude but there are a lot of people saying it.”

She was sentenced on the day a number of offenders involved in the far-right riots to be jailed.

Earlier, several rioters were jailed for an “utterly terrifying” attack on a hotel in Rotherham being used to house asylum seekers.

On August 4, rioters attempted to set the Holiday Inn Express on fire while customers were inside, leaving it battered with rocks and debris.

Following several days of violence throughout England and Northern Ireland, the National Police Chiefs' Council said that 1,024 people had been arrested and 575 had been charged.

In another instance, Home Office minister Jess Phillips responded to a video that showed me accosting a reporter during the riots by saying that she had made a "mistake."