Jordan Parlour has become the first person to be imprisoned for social media posts related to the nationwide riots that erupted following the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport. Parlour was sentenced to 20 months in prison at Leeds Crown Court after pleading guilty to publishing written material intended to stir racial hatred.
Parlour, 28, wrote a Facebook post in early August advocating violence towards the Britannia hotel in Leeds, stating, “every man and his dog should smash [the] f*** out of Britannia hotel.” In another post, he targeted asylum seekers, claiming they were “given a life of Riley off the tax of us hard-working people.”
Parlour’s mother submitted a note to the court, stating, “We can only speculate that he has been caught up and swept away by emotions circulating around the country.”
The Britannia hotel, which housed 210 occupants at the time, was locked down after people broke windows with stones. Parlour was arrested after his posts were reported to the police. He was at home with a broken heel when he wrote the inflammatory messages.
Passing sentence, Judge Guy Kearl KC said, “You took to social media in order to encourage others towards participation in the attacks upon the hotel. The initial post received six likes. However, it was sent to your 1,500 Facebook friends and, because of your lack of privacy settings, will have been forwarded to friends of your friends. The messages were therefore spread widely, which was plainly your intention.”
Parlour is one of four men sentenced at the court on Friday in relation to the recent disorder. Two other men, Sameer Ali, 21, and Adnan Ghafoor, 31, were involved in a street fight with far-right demonstrators in Leeds on August 3. They were sentenced to 20 months and two-and-a-half years in prison for affray, respectively.
High-profile figures in the US, including billionaire Elon Musk and right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan, have criticized British police for targeting rioters on social media. Rogan compared the crackdown to “Soviet Russia,” while Musk shared a Sky News post warning that sharing online material of riots could be an offense.
More than 150 people arrested in connection with this month’s violent disorder have already faced their day in court, according to data released by the Ministry of Justice on Friday.
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