A British man who cheered on anti-immigration protests from his X account has been jailed for three years, the latest in a string of harsh prison sentences given to non-violent social media users.
Wayne O’Rourke, 35, from Salix Approach, Lincoln, was sentenced to three years behind in Lincoln Crown Court on Friday by Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight, despite pleading guilty and having no criminal record.
Judge Knight, like many others who have given nationalist protesters jail sentences in recent weeks, last year spared paedophile Rayne Hepworth, 18, jail in the same courtroom.
Hepworth was caught with more then 1,300 child sex abuse videos of children aged three to five, classed in the most extreme category, but in handing down a three-year community order told him: “I don’t think you want to keep doing this.”
O’Rourke has about 105,000 followers on his X account, which the court heard he used to post encouraging messages about protests which erupted after the alleged stabbing of three young girls by a Rwandan teenager in Southport last month.
The posts included “Sunderland, go on lads”, “Starmer has basically said it us against them. Hold the line”, “Numbers are important”, “give them hell lads”, and a post telling the people of Southport to “get out on the streets”, the BBC reported.
The posts resulted in him being arrested on Sunday, charged with “publishing written to stir up racial hate”, and was fast-tracked through the courts like hundreds of others tracked down over the protests.
Judge Knight said in sentencing: “You were not caught up in what others were doing, you were instigating it.”
“The flames fanned by keyboard warriors like you.”
O’Rourke’s sentence came despite a YouGov poll showing that his sentiments were shared by a large proportion of the British population, with 34% saying they supported the protests compared to 54% who did not.
Another survey, by WeThink Polling, found that 39% agreed that “when it comes to the refugee problem, violence in sometimes the only means that citizens have to get the attention of British politicians”.
36% said that “xenophobic acts of violence are defensible if they result in fewer refugees being settled in your town”, 34% agreed that “attacks against refugee homes are sometimes necessary to make it clear to politicians that we have a refugee problem”, and 32% said “hostility against refugees is sometimes justified, even if it ends up in violence”.
O’Rourke is not the only social media user to be jailed by a judge with a record of sparing paedophiles jail.
Maryport man Billy Thompson, 31, was jailed for 12 weeks for writing a Facebook post with emojis of a non-White person and a gun by district judge John Temperley.
But in 2022 Judge Temperley decided not to jail 26-year-old paedophile Christopher Emmens, even though he was caught possessing child sex abuse material of the worst category, sentencing him to rehabilitation and community service instead, noting that he had “displayed remorse”.
In Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC sentenced another 18-year-old, Kenzie Roughley, to two years and four months in youth custody for rocking a police CCTV van, attempting to open it and kicking and punching the vehicle near a refugee hotel in Rotherham.
Two years earlier child sex predator Jordan Etsy, 30 was spared jail for grooming a 13-year-old girl and possessing child sex abuse material, with Judge Richardson sentencing him to a three-year-community order.
“The crimes in respect of which you have pleaded guilty would normally attract a sentence of imprisonment of some substance. A custodial sentence is plainly justified in a case of this kind but I make it clear a custodial sentence for you would be crushing and you would suffer comprehensibly in prison,” the judge said at the time.
In Plymouth Crown Court, Judge Robert Linford jailed David McGuire, 45, for two years and two months for spitting at police and Michael Williams, 51, for fighting and kicking another male.
In 2022 the same judge chose not to jail 38-year-old paedophile Matthew Bridger, saying “you have a constructive view of the future” in sentencing him to a community order for possessing child sex abuse material.
In Hull Crown Court, Brandon Kirkwood, 20, and Andrew Stewart, 37, were jailed for two-and-a-half years, and Christopher Douglas, 35, for two years and eight months by Judge Mark Bury.
Kirkwood pushed a line of bins at police outside an asylum seeker hotel, while Douglas, a combat veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan, hurled missiles at police. Stewart also hurled missiles and a large ignited bin. All three pleaded guilty.
But just last month in the same courtroom Judge Bury told bestiality-obsessed paedophile Simon Pritchett, 46, to “get some fresh air” instead of looking at extreme child sex abuse material and animal pornography, and gave him 30 days’ rehabilitation and a five-year sexual harm prevention order.
In Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC sentenced retired welder William Nelson Morgan, 69, to two years and eight months for being present at a protest which turned violent and resisting when he was arrested for holding a wooden cosh. He gave John O’Malley, 43, the same sentence for throwing bins at police.
But in 2021 the same judge let homosexual paedophile emergency department nurse John Wadeson, who caught with videos of babies being raped, walk free after hearing he had “many positive aspects of good character”.
In Teesside Crown Court, Judge Francis Laird KC sentenced Charlie Bullock, 21, who had no criminal history, to 18 months’ jail for throwing rocks at police while wearing a balaclava and “kicking out” as officer tried to arrest him.
Just over a week prior in the same courtroom Judge Laird gave a suspended sentence to 34-year-old immigrant paedophile Joao Da Silva, who admitted possessing hundreds of child sex abuse images and videos showing children as young as four visibly distressed while being raped.
In Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Paul Sloan KC jailed Leanne Hodgson, 43, for two-and-a-half years for shouting racist abuse at police, barging into an officer, pushing bins at police and pulling up paving stones.
Judge Sloan in 2015 opted not to jail paedophile Kieran Whitup, 40, for possessing 10,000 indecent images of girls as young as 10 on his computer, due to his previous good character, guilty plea, and physical and mental health problems. Hodgson also pleaded guilty.
Another non-participant, 18-year-old Cameron Armstrong, was charged with rioting and refused bail simply for being present at the scene of a violent disorder in Belfast, despite having no criminal record.
Mr Armstrong’s solicitor argued that his client had only gone to the area to “have a look”, but District Judge Francis Rafferty said “He doesn’t have to throw a petrol bomb or brick to be involved in disorder, if he’s present at disorder”.
