Facebook users jailed for 4 years over 'riot that never was'

Accalia · Aug 17, 2011

LONDON â€” Two British men have been sentenced to four years in prison for trying to organize riots on Facebook, according to reports.
Jordan Blackshaw, 20, created an event called "Smash Down Northwich Town" on Aug. 8 as the worst unrest in 30 years spread across England, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported. Nobody showed up to the event except for police officers who arrested Blackshaw at the appointed meeting place outside a McDonalds restaurant, the Guardian reported.
Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, reportedly caused a wave of panic after posting a link to a page called "The Warrington Riots" on Facebook. No disorder occurred as a result of Sutcliffe-Keenan's actions. He apologized after removing the page from Facebook the next morning and claimed the event had been a joke, the Guardian reported.
However, the Guardian quoted a judge in Chester, northwest England, as saying Blackshaw had committed an "evil act."
"Your conduct was quite disgraceful and the title of the message you posted on Facebook chills the blood," Judge Elgan Edwards added.
It emerged Tuesday that British judges and magistrates have been advised to ignore regular sentencing guidelines and mete out harsher punishments when dealing with those found guilty of rioting.

Despite widespread anger over damage caused by looters and rioters, the tough sentences have provoked controversy.

"Facebook plotters jailed for riot that never was," read the front-page headline on Wednesday's Times newspaper.

Andrew Neilson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told Sky News: "The rush to send a message out is leading to some very bad sentences, which will be overturned on appeal."
He added that sentences "should reflect the seriousness of the offense".
London cleans up and assesses the damage
Five people died during violence that ravaged English cities last week, including three men hit by a car in Birmingham, central England, as they protected local shops from looters. Two men and a teenage boy have been charged with murdering Haroon Jahan, 20, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31.
Several suspects have been questioned about the death of a man who was shot in the head during rioting in south London.
Across the country, some 3,000 people have been arrested and about 1,400 of those charged with riot-related offenses.
Story: After British riots, conflicting answers as to 'why'
Courts opened around-the-clock for several days to deal with the flood of suspects.
Rioting began in London Aug. 6 and spread to several other English cities. Police were criticized for responding too slowly, particularly in London, but eventually deployed huge numbers of officers at riot zones to quell the mayhem.
Police said they would keep up an expanded presence on the streets of London over the coming days, although the force didn't give a detailed breakdown. Scotland Yard said many of the additional officers would be assigned to hunt those involved in the riots.
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First of all there was no grounds for these people being arrested.
Facebook is a social networking site designed for use of chatter on the internet.
There was no riot to begin with so therefore there is no grounds for an arrest.

Pinekaboo · Aug 17, 2011

I have to agree. If nothing actually happened, then how can anybody be arressted for it? That makes no sense at all.

Nobody showed up to the event except for police officers who arrested Blackshaw at the appointed meeting place outside a McDonalds restaurant, the Guardian reported.
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Andrew Neilson, of the Howard League for Penal Reform, told Sky News: "The rush to send a message out is leading to some very bad sentences, which will be overturned on appeal."
He added that sentences "should reflect the seriousness of the offense".
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Turning up alone in the city does not seem like a very serious offense to me. Even if the riots have been bad, this is a little extreme.

Peace and War · Aug 17, 2011

He could be arrested for the intent to cause vandalism, property damage and anti social behaviour. Not sure if they are all crimes that are considered in these cases.
4 years is harsh tohugh since it was only intent. But I can't blame them for making a demonstration to the nation that aggressive rioting is ILLEGAL. Because people should be able to feel relatively safe where they live without worrying about people smashing their local stores, burning down buildings and rioting in their streets.

It was an eerie site seeing my local town almost deserted at 3 in the afternoon, with a large police patrol telling people to move on. Never have I seen it so empty. I saw several people (I live on the edge of town) in hoodies all aged in about their late teens early twenties parking down our road, getting out of thier cars, putting their hoods up and wlaking into town. Scared the **** out of me. Thankfully most all of them returned in about half an hour and left quick. Police doing their jobs.

Harsh or not, the riots stopped as soon as these people were arrested and charged quickly. A result which we all wanted.

Iskandar · Aug 17, 2011

finally facebook shows that it can cause real harm. This is why I don't do things like that. I'd rather talk on a site like this or just call them or talk over MSN or whatever.

Amaury · Aug 17, 2011

If they had intent, but didn't actually do it, I think 24 hours would have been fair.

While, technically, they didn't do anything wrong, they were planning to, and if authorities hadn't stepped in, a riot could have actually started.

Plums · Aug 17, 2011

Yeah, even though they didn't do anything, if they intended to they will get charges for that.

Anyway, I am glad the police were able to intervene before any real riots started.

Aqua101 said:

finally facebook shows that it can cause real harm. This is why I don't do things like that. I'd rather talk on a site like this or just call them or talk over MSN or whatever
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Facebook really isn't to blame here. I mean, anyone on any website could try to rally a riot. Even here DON'T ANY OF YOU EVEN TRY >:
The Internet is a big place, and you can't just pin the blame on one website when he could have done it on others (YouTube, Forums, etc.)

Hell-Sing · Aug 17, 2011

I do not trust a site that has a creator who stole the idea of the site from others, then paid them millions to shut them up. Nothing explicitly wrong, but I don't take chances with a site that I've heard and seen so much about.

And why would they organize a riot over Facebook? Well, anyway, it isn't the fact that they did break the law outside of minor things (Planning to vandalize etc.). They're an example.

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Facebook users jailed for 4 years over 'riot that never was'

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