17-year-old youngest to be prosecuted over incitement to racial hatred, say CPS
A TEENAGER who posted ‘highly disturbing’ racist videos on YouTube and on his personal website has pleaded guilty to two charges of inciting racial hatred.
The 17-year-old, from North Norfolk, used the internet to post a number of hate-filled videos.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) described one video, which showed a black man begin targeted by the Ku Klux Klan, as “highly disturbing”.
The teenager is believed to be the youngest person to be prosecuted by the CPS for incitement to racial hatred.
CPS lawyer, Viv Goddard said: “The teenager was just 15 when he was arrested on suspicion of posting white supremacist material on YouTube and a website he had set up himself.
“Young people need to realise that it is not a joke to post hate filled material on video sharing websites or sites they set up themselves. The material in this case was not just offensive but highly disturbing in its violence and imagery, particularly one clip which showed a Black man being hanged by the Ku Klux Khan then his leg being hacked off and thrown into a fire.”
The court was told the teenager had also posted videos of himself expressing racist opinions, and had supplied his own comments as a voice over on a number of the videos.
On his own website he insisted visitors who wanted to view the site would have to agree to a number of statements, which included ‘I do swear and verify that I am of the white race’, ‘I am not or have never been a follower of the Jewish religion’, and ‘I believe in the segregation of the races and I have never engaged in an inter-racial relationship.’
Mrs Goddard added: “This case should highlight to other young people that if they put material like this on the internet they could end up with a serious criminal conviction which will follow them for the rest of their lives.”
