Romaine Sawyers: Jail for Albion fan over Facebook racism

Simon Silwood sent the message after West Brom lost to Manchester City

A football fan who racially abused West Bromwich Albion midfielder Romaine Sawyers on social media has been jailed for eight weeks.

A court heard Simon Silwood's Facebook message was intentionally racist and not the result of autocorrect as he had claimed.

Sawyers became aware of the post after West Brom lost 5-0 to Manchester City.

Silwood, 50, from Kingswinford, West Midlands, was also ordered to pay £500 in compensation to the player.

Sentencing him at Birmingham Magistrates' Court, district judge Briony Clarke, said: "There is no place for racism or racist abuse online. This clearly, in my view, crosses the custody threshold.

"I assess the remorse you have for your actions as very minimal indeed."

Sawyers, who is currently on loan at Stoke City, played for West Brom between 2009 and 2013 and then rejoined the club from Brentford in 2019

Silwood, a West Brom supporter, of Randall Close, was charged following an investigation carried out by PC Stuart Ward, the UK's first dedicated hate crime officer within a football unit.

After sentencing, PC Ward said: "Sadly we've seen a rise in online hate crime over the last 12 months and we won't hesitate to take action against those responsible, as this case shows."

Silwood had previously admitted being the source of the message, but had blamed his language on a misspelling.

That was rejected in court and on 9 September he was found guilty of sending a racial slur under the Malicious Communications Act.

After his conviction, West Brom issued Silwood with a lifetime ban.

The post - following West Brom's heavy defeat in January - was made on a "sarcastic" Facebook group titled "Romaine Sawyers - Ballon d'Or"; a reference to the annual award to the world's best player.

Silwood, a steel worker, said he had meant to type that Sawyers should win the "buffoon d'Or".

He claimed a misspelling, of "bafoon", had autocorrected on his device to "baboon".

Simon Brownsey, prosecuting, read out a victim impact statement from Sawyers dated 7 April, which said he "constantly" thought about the incident.

"Every time I play football I am now thinking about comments that could be made about me online about the colour of my skin," his statement read.

"It is now 2021, behaviour like this is completely unacceptable."

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Sawyers, who is on loan at Stoke City, was reporting a separate social media post to police when he was shown Silwood's message.

The court heard previously the player was left feeling "harassed, alarmed and distressed" after reading it.

Offering mitigation prior to sentencing, defence barrister Rupert Jones said of Silwood: "He has suffered a very public humiliation, entirely of his own doing.

"He himself has received messages and threats since his conviction. He has now had the opportunity, somewhat ironically, to experience what that is like."

PC Ward had only been in the post a matter of weeks when the offence occurred. He said: "Abusing anyone for the colour of their skin is disgusting and can never, ever be condoned. There's no place for racism in football or society in general.

"Silwood is old enough to know such appalling behaviour is not only wrong, but is absolutely deplorable."