Man jailed for stirring up racial hatred on social media

Gareth Anthony Brett, 35, posted content on Twitter and Telegram over several months which was anti-Semitic and against anyone perceived to be non-Aryan and non-European.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard Brett’s offending came about during the pandemic when he became “isolated” and started looking into aliens and conspiracy theories before going onto reading about far-right politics.

The vile content he posted online from mid-2020 to early-2021 included hostility towards the Jewish community with imagery and symbolism used by neo-Nazis, prosecutor Amy Packham said.

Other posts included references to Adolf Hitler and extracts from the dictator’s book Mein Kampf, the court heard.

Judge Robert Pawson said the seriousness of the case could only be reflected with immediate imprisonment.

The hearing took place at Bournemouth Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

At the sentencing hearing on Friday, April 14, Judge Pawson said: “If you disseminate this sort of material to people measuring in the thousands at a time of economic strife generally there is a real danger and it is the sort of thing the public just will not tolerate.”

The court heard the Twitter account Brett set up with the purpose of sharing the material had around 2,000 followers although it could not be known how many people had seen his posts on the social media platforms.

Ms Packham said in the prosecution’s view the defendant’s intention could only have been to stir up racial hatred.

She said some of the material shared had been created by Brett himself.

“This was not simply Mr Brett finding material online that he was attracted to and resharing it,” Ms Packham said.

Brett was arrested in late January 2021. In interviews with police, he did not dispute that he posted the material, he maintained certain views and he claimed he was “simply posting the truth and helping people realise the truth about the world”.

Based on the defendant’s comments to the Probation Service, Jonathan Underhill, mitigating, said his client was an “isolated individual for whom Covid was particularly difficult”.

The barrister said Brett started looking at material about conspiracy theories and aliens before “very quickly” finding himself falling into far-right politics.

Brett, previously of Loch Road, Parkstone, pleaded guilty to four counts of publishing written material to stir up racial hatred.

He posted on Twitter through an account which has now been suspended

Mr Underhill asked the court to impose suspended sentence which could hang over the defendant for some time, but the judge said he was not persuaded to avoid immediate custody.

Judge Pawson told the defendant it was wrong to prejudice people.

“You have got everyone from Jeremy Corbyn to Boris Johnson to the King to a football hooligan to a nurse,” said the judge. “You don’t judge them all because they are white Europeans.”

Sentencing Brett to 12 months’ imprisonment, Judge Pawson said: “I hope you have turned a corner.

“You judge people on an individual basis, not on their colour, race or religion.”