A football fan who racially abused England’s football stars on Facebook in the wake of the Euro 2020 final defeat has been jailed for ten weeks. Rashford
According to reports, 52-year-old Jonathon Best had drunk at least 12 beers and five double Bacardis when he took to social media after England’s penalty shootout loss, targeting Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Bukayo Saka with abuse.
In the 18-second clip, forklift truck driver, Jonathon Best blamed the defeat on “three black c***s who can’t play for f***ing England”, Willesden magistrates court heard.
District Judge, Denis Brennan called it “corrosive” to society as he dismissed pleas for Best to be ordered into rehab or banned from the pubs as punishment, saying only a jail term would suffice.
Stating that the targeted footballers are aged between 19 and 23-years-old, Judge Brennan said Best had “cursed them because of the color of their skin”.
“The words you used were antediluvian, vile, and offensive, they strike at the very nature of our civilized society and are corrosive. Although you aren’t responsible for the vile abuse against another footballer, Louis Saha this very weekend, it’s indicative of the way the words you used affect other people. It encourages those who want to express similar views”.
Judge Denis Brennan
The judge said he considered a suspended sentence but decided an immediate jail term for Best would deter others from turning to racist abuse.
“They should know the courts in this country will send such people to prison. I hope, with this deterrence, that people are educated to behave more appropriately”.
Judge Denis Brennan
The court heard Best had three bottles of Budweiser before going to meet friends at a pub in Twickenham to watch the Euros final on July 11.
Two beers were lined up for him at the pub when he arrived, and he admitted being “out of it” by the end of the game when Rashford, Saka, and Sancho missed in the decisive penalty shootout.
While the majority of the nation took great pride in the Three Lions reaching their first international final in more than 50 years, Jonathon Best took to Facebook to Livestream a barrage of racist abuse at the three players who missed penalties during the game.
Elaine Cousins, from the CPS, said: “There is absolutely no room in the game, nor elsewhere, for racism”.
The court heard a colleague of Best saw the video on Facebook and reported it to their manager. Best was told to remove the offending clip but he’s said to have responded: “It’s my profile, I can do what I f***ing want”.
Best, who is from Feltham, insists he deleted the clip the morning after the match after being contacted by his sister, but that it stayed online for several more days as it had been copied and posted by others.
However, the judge told him: “I don’t accept your version of events. It stayed there for three days and you were incredibly offensive when asked to take it down”.
Best pleaded guilty to sending by public communication network a grossly offensive or indecent or obscene or menacing message or matter. He will serve five weeks in prison and the remaining five weeks of his sentence on license.
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