A West Cumbrian mum has been given a suspended prison sentence for inciting racial hatred with a social media post.
Megan Morrison shared an image on her Facebook page during national unrest following the fatal Southport stabbings.
Morrison, 27, shared the image of violent disorder at a Holiday Inn in Rotherham housing asylum seekers who were left fearing for their lives.
Carlisle Crown Court heard this afternoon that Morrison, of Mona Road, Salterbeck, added a caption which read: “They should do this to the Cumberland Hotel. It’s full of them.”
Prosecutor Tim Evans told the court: “There was an immediate response from a friend or follower of the defendant who commented ‘Megan, you can’t incite riots ffs!’.
“Her response to that was extremely troubling and highly illustrative at this time of national tension.
“To her friend she responded with a laughing emoji, rather than the horror followed by the immediate withdrawal of the post, which is of course what right-thinking citizens would do.”
Mr Evans said there were no asylum seekers being housed at the Cumberland Hotel, nor had any ever been housed there.
“But this is of course the terrible danger of these criminally ill-advised posting,” suggested Mr Evans.
“Entirely innocent people or properties can be dragged into situations by this sort of invitation if people accept.”
Morrison posted on August 6 — eight days after three children were murdered and 10 others injured at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
A woman with no previous convictions, Morrison was one of a number of people prosecuted across Cumbria for racially offensive online posts.
She later pleaded guilty to a charge of inciting racial hatred.
During today’s sentencing hearing, Morrison’s barrister said her phone had been seized by police.
She had not replaced it and she had since withdrawn from any use of social media as part of what he called her self-rehabilitation.
She told a probation officer who prepared a pre-sentence report that her offending was stupid.
“Indeed it was,” said Judge Nicholas Barker as he passed sentence.
After hearing details of Morrison’s family circumstances, and accepting her genuine remorse, the judge suspended a six-month jail term for 18 months.
Speaking about the post, Judge Barker told Morrison: “What you did was to demonstrate an implied assertion that you supported the actions that these mindless thugs were taking.
“No one considering this case can themselves disconnect it from the wave of civil disorder, appalling conduct, that swept this country in the summer month of August last year. You were part of that.”
Morrison must complete 160 hours’ unpaid work and a two-month electronically monitored night time curfew.
