LONDON (AP) — A man who used social media to stoke racial hatred during the far-right violence that erupted in Britain last week and encouraged people to torch hotels housing asylum seekers was sentenced Friday to more than three years in prison.
The term handed down to Tyler Kay, a 26-year-old father of three, was among the harshest sentences so far for people who have taken part in or encouraged the latest rioting in Britain.
“You posted as you did because you thought there were no consequences for yourself from stirring up racial hatred in others,” Judge Adrienne Lucking told Kay in Northampton Crown Court.
“I am sure that when you intentionally created the posts, you intended that racial hatred would be stirred up by your utterly repulsive, racist and shocking posts that have no place in a civilized society,” Lucking said.
Several hotels housing migrants have been targeted in the violent disorder that erupted on July 30 after misinformation was spread online that incorrectly said the teen suspect in a mass stabbing in northwest England that killed three girls was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Riots broke out in dozens of cities and towns — from Northern Ireland to the south coast of England — with protesters shouting anti-immigrant and Islamophobic slurs as they clashed with police, set cars ablaze, looted stores and terrorized communities. At a Holiday Inn Express housing migrants in Yorkshire, windows were smashed, police were assaulted and a fire was set in a stairwell.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who ordered courts to expedite cases to deliver swift justice to deter others from taking part in what he called “far-right thuggery,” has told police to be on high alert this weekend.
Kay was the second person to be sentenced in the unrest for committing a crime behind a keyboard.
Earlier in the day, Jordan Parlour, 28, was sentenced 20 months in prison for encouraging Facebook followers to attack a hotel in Leeds that housed migrants because he was frustrated with immigration problems in the United Kingdom.
“You went on to say that you did not want your money going to immigrants who ‘rape our kids and get priority,’” Judge Guy Kearl said in Leeds Crown Court. “You were encouraging others to attack a hotel which you knew was occupied by refugees and asylum seekers.”
After violent outbreaks over eight days, police and officials were relieved when far-right demonstrations anticipated Wednesday at 100 locations failed to materialize and were replaced instead by massive anti-racism marches.
Starmer credited the relative calm to a widespread and strategic police response and also the accelerated pace of court proceedings that may have given others pause.
So far, nearly 600 people have been arrested and more than 175 have appeared in court, the Ministry of Justice said. The government has pledged to track down and prosecute those responsible for the disorder, including people who incite violence online.
More than two dozen who have pleaded guilty have already been sentenced.
Kay’s sentencing came only two days after he reposted a message on the X platform that said: “Set fire to all the (expletive) hotels full of the bastards.”
Kay argued he was not a racist and had not intended to inspire that in others.
But the judge rejected his explanation, saying: “You have attempted to portray yourself as naive. I am sure that you knew that what you were posting would stir up racial hatred in others.”
A woman who posted the original message — the wife of a Conservative councilor — has been arrested.