Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Latchford, Warrington, used his Facebook account in the early hours of August 9 to design a web page entitled ‘The Warrington Riots’.
Two British men who posted messages on the social networking website Facebook inciting other people to riot in their home towns, have been sentenced to four years in prison.
According to the Guardian, Jordan Blackshaw, 20, set up an “event” called ‘Smash Down In Northwich Town’ for the night of August 8 on Facebook, but no one apart from the police, who were monitoring the page, turned up at the pre-arranged meeting point outside a McDonalds restaurant.
Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, of Latchford, Warrington, used his Facebook account in the early hours of August 9 to design a web page entitled ‘The Warrington Riots’.
His message was distributed to 400 Facebook contacts, but no rioting broke out as a result.
The Chester Crown Court was told it caused a wave of panic in the town.
Blackshaw and Sutcliffe-Keenan both pleaded guilty to creating the pages.
Sentencing Blackshaw to four years in a young offenders institution, Judge Elgan Edwards said he had committed an “evil act”.
“This happened at a time when collective insanity gripped the nation. Your conduct was quite disgraceful and the title of the message you posted on Facebook chills the blood,” the judge said.
“You sought to take advantage of crime elsewhere and transpose it to the peaceful streets of Northwich. The idea revolted many right thinking members of society. No one actually turned up due to the prompt and efficient actions of police in using modern policing,” he added.
Sutcliffe-Keenan, the judge said, “caused a very real panic” and “put a very considerable strain on police resources in Warrington”.
He praised Cheshire police for their “modern and clever policy” of infiltrating the website.
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed that the sentences handed down to Blackshaw and Sutcliffe-Keenan were the lengthiest so far given to those involved in last week’s rioting.
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