UK men charged with race hatred
Published:Friday | July 10, 2009 | 2:02 PM
Two men have been given prison sentences after becoming the first in the UK to be convicted of inciting racial hatred online.
Fifty-year-old Simon Sheppard received four years and 10 months, while 42-year-old Stephen Whittle received two years and four months.
The men printed leaflets and controlled websites featuring racist material.
They fled to the US after being convicted of race-hate offences at a trial at Leeds Crown Court last year, but failed in an asylum bid.
The men were charged with publishing and distributing racially inflammatory material and possessing racially inflammatory material with a view to distribution.
The published material included images of murdered Jews alongside cartoons and articles ridiculing ethnic groups.
Presiding Judge Rodney Grant says he had never seen material so abusive and insulting towards local minorities.