'Armchair thugs' behind bars: Sign installer who urged mob

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Three ‘armchair thugs’ were jailed for a total of five years today including a sign installer who urged a mob to ‘smash the f**k’ out of a migrant hotel; a foundry worker who posted ‘let’s f***ing riot’; and an IT worker calling for ‘mass deportation now’.

Jordan Parlour, 28, was jailed for 20 months after calling on yobs to destroy a hotel housing 200 asylum seekers in Leeds, making him the first man to be sentenced over Facebook posts relating to disorder since the Southport murders on July 29.

The sign installer, who could not take to the streets himself because he had a broken heel, incited protesters to target the Britannia Hotel near his home in Leeds.

Parlour – who appeared to blow a raspberry as he was led from court – had pleaded guilty to stirring up racial hatred and using threatening, abusive or insulting words.

In another first since the recent disorder began, a man who encouraged people to start a riot on social media became the first person from Wales to be imprisoned.

Richard Williams, 34, of Buckley, Flintshire, posted ‘let’s f***ing riot’ and shared a derogatory meme about migrants in a local Facebook group about protests.

Williams was jailed for 12 weeks after pleading guilty at Mold Magistrates’ Court to one count of sending menacing messages via a public communication network.

Also today, company director Tyler Kay who repeated vile anti-immigrant comments posted by the wife of a Tory councillor was jailed for 38 months at Northampton Crown Court – after boasting online that he would ‘categorically’ not be arrested.

Company director Kay, 26, was arrested and convicted within 36 hours of posting on X calling for ‘mass deportation now’, adding: ‘Set fire to all the f*******hotels full of the b******** for all I care… If that makes me racist, so be it.’

He also reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration solicitors in Northampton, and other posts attributable to him showed a desire to be involved in organised protests in the town.

‘Armchair thug’ Jordan Parlour, 28, who has been jailed for 20 months at Leeds Crown Court

As for Parlour, Leeds Crown Court heard today that he had posted on Sunday about the Britannia Hotel in the Seacroft area of the city, which was home to 210 refugees and asylum seekers.

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He told his 1,500 friends on Facebook: ‘Every man and their dog should be smashing f*** out Britannia Hotel.’

It received six likes and one person responded with the reply: ‘I’m down if you are my lad.’

Parlour then replied: ‘Start about five bell tonight be my boy but it’s all gravy.’

The court heard that his messages were spread widely, which the judge, the Recorder of Leeds Judge Guy Kearl KC, said was ‘plainly your intention.’

Asked online ‘why’ he was encouraging the hotel attack, Parlour wrote in a bigoted response: ‘Because they’re over here, given life of riley off the tax us hardworking people earn when it could be put to better use.

‘Come over here with no work visa, no trade to their name and sit down and doss and then there’s more people being put out homeless each year, they get top band priority on housing and many more reasons.’

Jordan Parlour from Leeds could not take to the streets himself because he had a broken heel

Prosecutor Matthew Donkin said the posts were made at a time of ‘widespread disorder, violence and criminal damage.’

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He said the Britannia Hotel was known locally to house refugees and asylum seekers.

On the Friday night stones were thrown at the hotel, smashing a window. The next day the manager decided to put the hotel into ‘lockdown’ to protect those staying there, the court heard.

Further stones were thrown at the hotel on the Sunday – shortly before rioters attacked a different hotel in Rotherham.

Mr Donkin said a night porter who worked at the Britannia had seen Parlour’s Facebook post and it was reported to police.

The post was made before the attack in Rotherham, the court was told.

Officers arrested Parlour during the early hours. He said he wrote the ‘smashing’ post out of ‘anger and frustration.’

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Mr Donkin said Parlour believed asylum seekers were taking taxpayers money off working people and ‘raping our kids.’

Parlour recognised how ‘stupid’ he had been, the court was told.

The judge accepted Parlour took no part in the violence, but said: ‘There can be no doubt you were inciting others to do so, otherwise why post the comments?’

Nicholas Hammond, defending, told the judge his client was ‘not part of any sinister group activity designed to stir up violence’ and was ‘not affiliated with any group’.

The court heard that his mother wrote a letter to court which said: ‘We can only speculate he’s been caught up and swept away by emotions circulating throughout the country.’

Jordan Parlour turned to social media to incite protesters to target a Britannia Hotel in Leeds

Parlour worked full-time and supported his partner and her four children, the court was told.

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He has previous convictions including a fixed penalty notice in 2014 for threatening, abusive, words and behaviour.

Sentencing Parlour, Judge Kearl KC noted that the defendant had told interviewing police that he posted the message ‘as a result of anger and frustration at immigration problems in the country’.

The judge told Parlour: ‘You went on to say that you did not want your money going to immigrants who ‘rape our kids and get priority’.’

Judge Kearl said: ‘You were encouraging others to attack a hotel which you knew was occupied by refugees and asylum seekers.

Parlour was jailed at Leeds Crown Court today by Recorder of Leeds Judge Guy Kearl KC

‘The overall effect of your post was to incite violence towards the building and therefore towards those in the hotel.

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‘It was not only the refugees and asylum seekers who were likely to be affected by your post, but also the hotel managers, the night porters and those who worked within the hotel.’

He said: ‘Your position is aggravated by the timing of your post, namely that it was at a time of social unrest and particular sensitivity across the country.’

Judge Kearl added: ‘In passing sentence, I take into account the purposes of sentencing, in particular in relation to this case, punishment and deterrence.

‘As is recognised on your behalf, this offence is so serious that an immediate custodial sentence is unavoidable.’

Richard Williams, 34, of Buckley, Flintshire, posted about taking part in a riot and shared a derogatory meme about migrants in a local Facebook group dedicated to protests, Mold Magistrates’ Court heard. He was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail this afternoon

Parlour admitted publishing written material intended to stir racial hatred earlier this week.

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He will serve up to half the 20 months term in custody.

Parlour appeared to blow a raspberry as he was led from the court.

Following the sentencing, prosecutors said Parlour ‘advocated violence’ and his subsequent jail sentence should act as a reminder to others.

Rosemary Ainslie, acting head of the Crown Prosecution Service special crime and counter terrorism division, said: ‘Let me be absolutely clear, people who think they can hide behind their keyboards and stir up racial hatred should think again.

‘Jordan Parlour advocated violence through his online posts and risked the safety of those staying and working at the hotel.

Tyler Kay was jailed for 38 months at Northampton Crown Court for publishing written material which was threatening, abusive or insulting, intending thereby to stir up racial hatred

‘He is now facing a prison sentence for his actions and I hope this serves as a stark reminder that online actions have consequences.

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‘The CPS will continue to act swiftly and robustly regarding these cases, and ensure those responsible for such deplorable criminality are brought to justice.’

As for the Williams case in Mold, prosecutor Shane Maddocks said the offence was ‘significantly aggravated by the racial and religious element to this matter.’

On a video link, district judge Stephen Harmes told him: ‘We will never be able to quantify what level of disruption your post caused. But it’s part of a spiders’ web of disruption which caused unbelievable riots up and down our country.’

The judge added: ‘You described yourself as a keyboard warrior. You are not a warrior, nor are the rioters. Their case is nonsense.’

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Judge Harmes added that those involved were criminals, not protesters, and Williams chose to provoke trouble.

The judge asked Williams that if a relative were ill: ‘Would you refuse a Muslim surgeon if they needed an operation? I doubt it.’

A probation officer said, during a break at work, someone had mentioned the Facebook group and Williams at first shared the post as a warning to others about the potential for there to be problems in the area. His mother asked him to take it down and he did so.

But, having been drinking, he decided to ‘lighten the situation’ by sharing an offensive image. Williams now realised his mistake and wanted to permanently delete Facebook, the court heard. He ‘deeply regrets’ posting the offensive messages.

Ceri Lewis, defending, said he made a full admission to police and stated: ‘it’s a shame you can’t turn back time.’

It was ‘an act of stupidity’ when he was home alone and he now faced losing his tenancy, the court heard.

Judge Harmes told the defendant: ‘You are devastated because you have been brought to justice.’

Key questions: Social media moderation and inciting violence online

By Martyn Landi

The role of social media in the violence and disorder on Britain’s streets has become a key issue, with the moderation and regulation of platforms coming under scrutiny.

Misinformation spreading online in part helped sparked the riots, and now people are being arrested and charged for inciting hatred or violence through social media platforms.

Here is a closer look at how social media content moderation currently works, how posting hateful material can be a crime and how regulation of the sector could change moderation going forward:

– How do social media sites moderate content currently?

All major social media platforms have community rules that they require their users to follow, but how they enforce these rules can vary depending on how their content moderation teams are set up and how they carry out that process.

Most of the biggest sites have several thousand human moderators looking at content that has been flagged to them or has been found proactively by human staff or software and AI-powered tools designed to spot harmful material.

– What are the limitations as it stands?

There are several key issues with content moderation in general, including: the size of social media makes it hard to find and remove everything harmful posted; moderators – both human and artificial – can struggle to spot nuanced or localised context and, therefore, sometimes mistake the harmful for the innocent; and moderation is heavily reliant on users reporting content to moderators – something which does not always happen in online echo chambers.

Furthermore, the use of encrypted messaging on some sites means not all content is publicly visible and can be spotted and reported by other users. Instead, they rely on those inside encrypted groups reporting potentially harmful content.

Crucially, a number of cuts have also been made to content moderation teams at many tech giants recently, often because of financial pressures, which have also affected content teams’ ability to respond.

At X, Elon Musk drastically cut back the site’s moderation staff after taking over the company, as part of his cost-saving measures and as he repositioned the site as a platform that would allow more ‘free speech’, substantially loosening its policies around prohibited content.

The result is harmful material is able to spread on the biggest platforms. It is also why there have long been calls for tougher regulation to force sites to do more.

– How can posting to social media become an offence?

Offences around incitement, provoking violence and harassment under UK law predate the social media age, and are covered under the Public Order Act 1986, but this does include offences which occur online as well as offline.

Most social media sites also explicitly forbid such content under their rules, meaning they, as well as the police, can take action based on any such posts.

– So how realistic is it to expect all harmful content to be removed by the platforms?

Under the current set-up, not very.

In many instances, social media platforms are taking action against posts inciting or encouraging the disorder.

However, the speed at which this harmful or misleading content spreads can make it difficult for platforms to get every post taken down or have its visibility restricted before it is seen by many other users.

New regulation of social media platforms – the Online Safety Act – became law in the UK last year but has not yet fully come into effect.

Once in place, it will require platforms to take ‘robust action’ against illegal content and activity, including around offences such as inciting violence.

The act will also introduce criminal offences covering the sending of threatening communications online, and sharing false information intended to cause non-trivial harm.

– So how will the Online Safety Act help?

The new laws will, for the first time, make firms legally responsible for keeping users, and in particular children, safe when they use their services.

Overseen by Ofcom, the new laws will not specifically focus on the regulator removing pieces of content itself, but it will require platforms to put in place clear and proportionate safety measures to prevent illegal and other harmful content from appearing and spreading on their sites.

Crucially, clear penalties will be in place for those who do not comply with the rules.

Ofcom will have the power to fine companies up to £18 million or 10% of their global revenue, whichever is greater, meaning potentially billions of pounds for the largest platforms.

In more severe cases, Ofcom will be able to seek a court order imposing business disruption measures, which could include forcing internet service providers to limit access to the platform in question.

And most strikingly, senior managers can be held criminally liable for failing to comply with Ofcom in some instances, a set of penalties it hopes will compel platforms to take greater action on harmful content.

In an open letter published on Wednesday, Ofcom urged social media companies to do more to deal with content stirring up hatred or provoking violence on Britain’s streets.

The watchdog said: ‘In a few months, new safety duties under the Online Safety Act will be in place, but you can act now – there is no need to wait to make your sites and apps safer for users.’

The letter, signed by Ofcom director for online safety Gill Whitehead, said it would publish guidance ‘later this year’ setting out what social media companies are required to do to tackle ‘content involving hatred, disorder, provoking violence or certain instances of disinformation’.

It added: ‘We expect continued engagement with companies over this period to understand the specific issues they face and we welcome the proactive approaches that have been deployed by some services in relation to these acts of violence across the UK.’

Williams, who worked in a foundry, had previous convictions including for theft and battery. He must pay £239 costs.

After the sentencing, North Wales Police Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman said: ‘This serves as a timely reminder that North Wales Police takes any allegation of criminality, whether committed online or in person, extremely seriously.

‘Those who post online in a criminally irresponsible way must realise they will be located, swiftly investigated, and placed before the court.’

In Kay’s case he admitted publishing abusive, threatening or insulting material intending to stir up racial hatred before magistrates yesterday in what police said was one of the first cases of its kind.

He was remanded into custody ahead of sentencing today at Northampton Crown Court where judge Adrienne Lucking KC said Kay was ‘intelligent, articulate and media-savvy’ who knew what he was doing in making the posts, but had attempted to ‘portray himself as naïve’.

She told him: ‘You posted what you did because you thought there would be no consequences.’

She said Kay displayed a ‘fundamentally racist mindset’ and had published ‘utterly repulsive, racist and shocking’ material which had no place in society or online.

She added: ‘I’m sure you knew that what you were posting would stir up racial hatred and this is what you wanted.’

The messages were posted early on Wednesday morning, ahead of expected unrest at an immigration lawyer’s office his home town of Northampton that evening, one of dozens of potential locations for disorder which had been spread online by far-Right agitators.

In a further reply to users on X, in which he alleges police are guilty of ‘two-tier policing’, Kay copied in six forces including Northamptonshire Police. He declared: ‘My point is… it’s one rule for some and another rule for others because I can categorically tell you now, I will not be arrested by Northants Police.’

Father-of-three Kay’s first post on Wednesday morning, at 0.27am, formed part of a longer message tweeted by Lucy Connolly which had been uploaded the week before, just hours after the death of three girls aged six, seven and nine at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport.

The childminder, whose husband Raymond Connolly is vice chairman of the committee on adult social care at West Northamptonshire Council, was also arrested for inciting racial hatred but has been bailed pending further investigation.

Kay, who describes himself as a ‘BMW fanboy’ online, also posted a screenshot of the address of the immigration law firm in Northampton which had been identified as a target for disorder by far-Right activists online.

It contained numerous ‘fire’ emojis and included the statements ‘they won’t stop coming until you tell them…no more immigration’, and ‘mask up…spread this as far and wide as you can’.

When Kay was then warned in a reply from a fellow X user that he would be in the news with a ten-year jail sentence, he scoffed: ‘For what, sharing a screenshot? You’re delusional buddy’.

In a third post, Kay urged his 127 followers to don gloves and avoid travelling to the location by car ‘so no number plate to trace’ and suggested they leave a change of clothes somewhere nearby.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Kay was a team leader at an IT firm in nearby Kettering until May. During the pandemic he set up his own computer and software retail company, but the first set of accounts were never filed and within two years a court ordered the firm to be wound up after a petition from a creditor. Kay is still listed as an ‘active’ company director at Companies House.

Writing on X, Connolly said: ‘Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care, while you’re at it take the treacherous government and politicians with them.

‘I feel physically sick knowing what these families will now have to endure. If that makes me racist, so be it.’

She later posted an apology saying she ‘acted on information that I now know to be false and malicious’ in what she said was a ‘moment of extreme outrage and emotion’.

Expected unrest on Wednesday night saw 6,000 police mobilised at locations nationwide but in the event the evening largely passed off peacefully as large numbers of anti-fascist demonstrators turned out at the advertised potential trouble-spots instead.

Detective Chief Superintendent Rich Tompkins said: ‘I hope this case sends a very clear message to people who think they can hide behind a screen and publish hateful, racially prejudiced posts without consequence.

‘This case is not an example of preventing ‘freedom of speech’ as a small minority of people will claim.

‘It is about standing up for what is right and protecting our communities from fear of violence. After all, freedom of speech is not freedom to spread racial hatred.

‘This week, we have had some really positive engagements with communities across the county, most notably the gathering of people standing against racism in Northampton on Wednesday evening. We stand with our communities and will do everything we can to help them feel safe and protected from crime.’

Rosemary Ainslie, acting head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter-Terrorism Division, said: ‘It’s important that I make it absolutely clear – online actions have real consequences.

‘Kay wrote about setting fire to hotels and amplified posts advocating action against immigrations solicitors – this online behaviour will not be tolerated.

‘He was convicted only a day after he made the social media post, which displays just how quickly offenders such as Kay will be brought to justice.

‘The CPS will continue to act swiftly and robustly to tackle such behaviour.’

The sentencings come after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper hit out at ‘armchair thugs’ inciting violence during unrest that has spread across Britain over the past ten days.

Also in the courts today, Tyle Kay, 26, is due to appear at Northampton Crown Court charged with publishing written material which was threatening, abusive or insulting, intending thereby to stir up racial hatred.

His online posts are also connected to the widespread disorder, and he was previously remanded in custody.

Elsewhere, former Labour councillor Ricky Jones, 57, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being charged with one count of encouraging violent disorder after he was filmed addressing a crowd at a London demonstration on Wednesday evening.

Four people also face jail at Newcastle Crown Court following violent disorder in Sunderland.

In Southampton, Ryan Wheatley, 40, pleaded guilty to assault by beating of a police officer at a protest in the city on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks with Metropolitan Police boss Sir Mark Rowley and other senior officers in front of CCTV screens at Lambeth police headquarters in London today

Sir Keir Starmer speaks with Territorial Support Group public order officers in Lambeth today

Gareth Metcalfe, 44, admitted violent disorder in his home town of Southport on Tuesday, the day after three girls were killed in a fatal knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club.

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At Inner London Crown Court, Ozzie Cush will be sentenced for assaulting an emergency worker in Westminster on July 30.

Teesside Crown Court will see three Middlesbrough rioters and one Darlington rioter face prison sentences and in Sheffield, Kenzie Roughley, 18, will be sentenced for violent disorder outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham.

Suspected rioters will also be appearing in magistrates courts across the country, including in Liverpool, Llandudno, South Tyneside and Wirral.

At least a dozen people were jailed on Thursday for their part in the riots.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said swift justice, including sentencing, has been a deterrent to more violent disorder.