A teenager has been jailed for posting a racist tweet to footballer Marcus Rashford after England crashed out of the Euro 2020 final. Kidderminster Magistrates' Court heard on Wednesday (March 30) that he trolled the Man United star as he watched the match from his bedroom.
Justin Lee Price, 19, from Worcester, sent the highly offensive message directly to Mr Rashford after he missed a penalty during the shoot-out from his Midlands home. It said that Price used a derogatory word to taunt the player as hosts England lost to Italy.
After police launched an investigation into his tweet, Price changed his Twitter username to avoid detection. But changed his mind and confessed all after his mother made him own up, reports BirminghamLive.
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Mr Price of Grandison Gardens, Worcester, pleaded guilty to sending a grossly offensive message on a public communications network. At Kidderminster Magistrates' Court today (Wednesday, March 30) he was jailed for six weeks.
He posted the tweet on July 11 last year when he was aged 18. It read: "@SzzOGz @MarcusRashford YOU F****** STUPID ****** MISSING A FREE PEN MY DEAD NAN COULD HAVE SCORED THAT”, according to a CPS official.
Mark Johnson, of the CPS, said an investigation was immediately launched by the Metropolitan Police. “Price targeted a footballer based on the colour of his skin and his action was clearly racist and a hate crime," he said.
At court today, Price's solicitor said his client felt "ashamed and embarrassed" by his actions. He said he lived with his single-parent mother and only worked two days a week, leaving him with a lot of time on his hands.
"He spends a lot of time online, gaming, from his bedroom in online groups," the solicitor said. "On the night this offence took place he was with that online group, but he accepts the responsibility is his. He knows it was wrong and regretted it as soon as it was sent."
His solicitor said Price used the N-word in the tweet because he listens to a lot of rap music where it is used a lot. "It wasn't uncommon for him to hear that [in rap music] when it's not used as a racist word, so it was normalised for him - he didn't understand the use of that word and didn't intend it as a hate crime," he said.
He said his client was shocked when two months after the tweet he was arrested and taken to a police station to be interviewed. At first, he denied the offence, but when he went home and told his mother what happened she told him of the enormity of his actions. He then rang officers asking for a second interview where he made a full confession.
Once the details were publicised across the media he was left traumatised by the coverage. "He lost weight and showed signs of mild depression - this whole episode has been detrimental to his mental health," his solicitor said.
Sentencing him, District Judge Ian Strongman said while he understood that football fans were "emotionally charged" after England's defeat, that was no excuse for what Price did. "At first you denied it, but after talking with your mum, you had second thoughts, but you must have realised the writing was on the wall because you were linked to that tweet," he said.
"The electronic age has brought many benefits with social media, but unfortunately some people take the view that it's a licence to send abusive messages, especially to high profile people while hiding behind a social media profile, saying things they'd never say in person to them."
Mr Strongman said he had reduced the jail term because Price had pleaded guilty, but he couldn't suspend the sentence because of the racist nature of the tweet. He was also ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge and was given a restraining order which prevents him from having any contact in person or via social media with Marcus Rashford for five years.
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