A man who was found to have racially abused Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka, and Jadon Sancho has been jailed
The judge sentenced Jonathon Best, 52, from west London to 10 weeks in prison at Willesden magistrates court on Tuesday.
He pleaded guilty to sending by public communication network a grossly offensive or indecent or obscene or menacing message.
Elaine Cousins, from the Crown Prosecution Service, told PA Media:
“Jonathon Best took to Facebook to live stream a barrage of racist abuse at the three players who missed penalties during the game.
“He used social media to publicly vilify these three young men who tried to score for England. When approached by a Facebook friend asking him to remove the grossly offensive content, Best replied: ‘It’s my profile, I can do what I want.’
“There is absolutely no room in the game, nor elsewhere, for racism. The CPS is committed to bringing perpetrators of hate crime to justice where there is the evidence to do so.”
Aaron Ramsdale and Bukayo Saka called up to the England squad. 🦁 #AFC pic.twitter.com/TOqxLFwx9E
— Chris Wheatley (@ChrisWheatley_) November 4, 2021
The abuse took place after the Euro 2020 final this summer. Best used social media to insult the players after they missed the final three penalties. This led to the Three Lions losing the final.
The court heard that the individual, who was a work colleague and Facebook friend of Best’s, reported the 18-second Facebook video. The friend made the report to the social media platform and the police after Best refused to remove it.
Facebook eventually took the post down after three days.
“I would like to thank the individual who reported this appalling hate crime and I hope this prosecution goes some way in educating and deterring people from posting hate on social media,” Cousins added.
An inspiration. A hero. A baller. And only 24.
Happy birthday, @MarcusRashford 🎂 pic.twitter.com/yHQcyupTMF
— B/R Football (@brfootball) October 31, 2021
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