Reading man fined over racist Euro 2020 Facebook post

Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford missed penalties for England at Euro 2020

A man who created a racist Facebook post about the England footballers who missed penalties at Euro 2020 has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Hugh Laidlaw, 50, was found guilty earlier of sending an offensive message via a public communication network in July 2021.

He was fined £1,000 at Reading Crown Court and was ordered to pay costs of £775 plus a surcharge of £128.

Laidlaw, from Reading, was also given a suspended eight-week jail sentence.

England drew 1-1 in the Euro 2020 final with Italy, but then lost 3-2 on penalties after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed their spot-kicks.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Laidlaw had posted an offensive image and comments soon after on 11 July on the Metal Detecting UK Facebook page.

He then claimed his account had been hacked in order to distance himself from the post, the CPS said.

Following sentencing, senior crown prosecutor Benjamin May said: "Hugh Laidlaw's hateful and racist post was a direct attack on England's players and those who it was shared with were left disgusted and upset.

"Racist abuse won't be tolerated and, as this case has shown, where offensive content is reported to the police and our legal tests are met, we can successfully bring offenders to justice."