This article is from November 17th, so a couple days old, but I found it worthwhile.
To be criminally charged for this is absolutely insane. The fact everyone knows he’s a lowlife and his name is out there is enough.
Yeah for me the world has gone too soft. I don’t see a crime to be honest there worth going to court for. It was utterly stupid and disgusting what he did but I feel like going to court was too far for it.
Let the club ban him and the media report on it but it feels excessive as he’s already lost his job and any future employer will see what he’s done with any background check.
People should be allowed to make mistakes and learn from them, I’m sure he’s not a bad person at all just did a stupid thing and now will pay for the rest of his life.
I feel like you maybe wouldn’t be saying this if you were the kids family.
He got a suspended sentence basically just saying don’t do it again
Not really, a suspended sentence still counts as a prison sentence in terms of his criminal record
Only for 15 months until it becomes spent
I’m sure he’s not a bad person
Good people don’t tend to mock children who died from cancer, just saying.
Anyone can make a mistake in the heat of the moment with alcohol involved. Imagine one mistake defining you for the rest of your life. If he’s acknowledged the mistake learned from it and makes him a better person then that’s much more important than villifying him and going to court over such a thing.
I don’t agree with a criminal offence and going to court over the matter.
Look at the thread about Grealish yesterday, people saying he’s such a lovable guy yet he drove and wrote his car off while absolutely steaming.
It’s a public order offence though? And his sentence was suspended. I don’t get the issue.
Having shit craic shouldn’t result in being charged as a criminal. It’s a slippery slope, and shows you can be arrested and charged for pretty much anything.
The only difference between the UK and China is the degree of surveillance and control, although with the ULEZ cameras and people getting arrested for standing on streets thinking wrong thoughts the UK is fighting valiantly to close the distance.
Oh no, catching criminals, what a terrible thing!
My dude, are you still trying to push this narrative that the UK is a police state?
Just take the L and move on.
You didn’t look up the definition, you are embarrassed. I get it.
Am I gonna cry for this moron? Not one tear.
Is this punishment reasonable? Fuck, I just don’t know man…
Is the punishment unreasonable? Probably.
Do I care about someone who thought it would be funny to make fun of a child who dies of cancer? Absolutely not, they can throw the book at him for all I care
100% suspended sentence is correct. What he did is bad but he shouldn’t be taking up a cell in overflowing prisons.
Suspended essentially means no more public order offences so hopefully behaves
What I don’t know is does he have a criminal record now?
Well since he was convicted of course he does.
Absolutely, yes.
He got a 3-month custodial sentence. Convictions resulting in custodial sentences shorter than 12 months become ‘spent’ 12 months after the sentence ends. So, his conviction will be ‘unspent’ for the next 15 months.
While his conviction is ‘unspent’ he still only needs to tell an organisation about it (e.g. for a job application) if they ask him, but it will show up on any DBS - basic, standard or enhanced.
After it becomes ‘spent’ it will only show up on a standard or enhanced DBS check. He only needs to tell a potential employer, university or college about it if they ask him to and they tell him the role needs a standard or enhanced DBS check and it has not been removed (‘filtered’) from DBS certificates (as it resulted in a custodial sentence, it can’t ever be filtered).
It’s against the law for an employer, university or college to refuse someone a role because they’ve got a spent conviction or caution, unless it makes them unsuitable for the role (i.e. a driving conviction might make them unsuitable for a job as a driving instructor).
He isn’t though. It’s a suspended sentence.
I’m with you tbh. For context: Here in Germany this is the reason that offenders have a right to privacy, so their faces and their full names aren’t allowed to be shown / named (in german media).
This regulation has its own issues imo, but makes sense in this case: The offender gets punished, but they don’t have to suffer their whole life for it.
It seems every week I see the UK criminally charging people for disgusting and offensive chants, gestures etc.
They are disgusting acts but to criminally charge for this is insanity and a slippery slope to the Government deciding what you can and can’t say.
Why though?
The law isn’t new, we’ve had lots of iterations of it over the centuries.
Also, freedom of speech isn’t freedom of consequences for saying it or doing it.
Slippery slope? These laws have existed for longer than both of us have been alive.
And there’s probably a reason a colony of yours was so focused on being able to speak their mind without punishment don’t you think?
The government has absolutely zero say in this scenario
What would be your solution?
People have got in trouble for “offensive” reddit posts before
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/watch-moment-web-troll-who-11918656
I had a really bad experience recently with drugs and started yelling extremely offensive things to police when they came to help me. I wasn’t charged with any of that - I did make a very bad false claim that’s specifically being investigated, but it’s nothing to do with how offensive it was. One of the things I thought they would do me for is writing a note on my computer for them to find (it involved ra*e). They just asked where that stuff came from and I openly told them I wanted to say the most vile things imaginable but they treated me well and listened.
Why is insanity when it’s a breach of the Public Order Act 1986? This is nothing new. I’m not sure I understand how anyone is complaining.
We think we’re American.
Yeah, in a country constantly being americanised with its media, sport, etc. the biggest one is that everyone seems to think we have free speech laws like the USA all of a sudden
Are you opposed to said free speech laws? Thats something the US gets right.
The government represents the people. We’ve had this laws for over a hundred years.
We aren’t America, we don’t view free speech in the same way.
tbh I forgot that mascots in soccer are the little kids that walk out with the players, I thought some guy was making fun of a grown man in a glorified furry suit
Imagine being a 32 year old man and doing that. I know being a dickhead isn’t technically a crime and I don’t think he should necessarily be charged with anything, but I’m kinda happy he’s being shamed like this.
“alcohol contributed to the offence, which was “out of character”.”
Being a total knobhead shouldn’t get you charged as a criminal.
it’s an actual joke what western society has become - not for one second are his actions fine, they’re disgusting and vile.
but where do u draw the line between that and making a 9/11 meme on the internet?
So let’s say you went to the NY Fire Department, showed them pictures of their dead colleagues while having a right good laugh. Everything fine here?
While I don’t feel like he should have been criminally charged, I don’t feel bad for him it’s a dickhead thing to do and I don’t even know how you could make a funny joke from that
The idea of him potentially doing jail time for this is a bit silly but I’m definitely not opposed to the unpaid work/community service part of the punishment.
I feel like community service and just compensation for the victim is good, jail time for speech just isnt a good idea unless it actively puts someone or a group of people in danger
Man dickhead, jail harsh
It wasn’t even a joke, it was just “one of your fans, a kid, died, here’s his photo” like what the fuck.
I’ve never understood this. Why should harm be ignored in law? Would you really feel free in a country where you just had to allow someone to say what they wanted whenever they wanted?
I think serious threats towards people is the only form of speech that deserves investigation from the police. He was a cunt for doing that but it can be a slippery slope imprisoning someone on the basis of them being a cunt lol
It’s just banter
Sad life if you find mocking a dead child banter
Why is it so hard for some people to not be giant fucking cunts
Should have given the cunt a swift kick to the face and made sure his community service is spent on children’s cancer wards. The cunt.
It’s disgraceful that he’s been rewarded with a stadium ban. Surely being forced to watch Wednesday every week would be a severe deterrent.
It’s disgusting that this is deemed a criminal offence. He’s a moron, but what he did shouldn’t have been against the law.
The ‘disgusting’ thing here isn’t his sentence.