Chelsea fan admits posting anti-Semitic tweets aimed at Spurs fans

Chelsea's security team passed on the tweets to the police

A Chelsea supporter posted anti-Semitic tweets aimed at Tottenham fans, including photos of Auschwitz and a man doing a Nazi salute, a court has heard.

Nathan Blagg, 21, pleaded guilty to seven counts of sending offensive messages when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court.

The prosecutor said there had been a "racially aggravated" element to the offences because of the "anti-Semitic nature of many of them".

Blagg will be sentenced on 5 November.

The lifelong Chelsea supporter, from Retford, Nottinghamshire, sent the tweets between September 2020 and February this year, the court was told.

He posted a picture of the train tracks to Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz on Twitter, along with the message: "Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz."

Another post featured a fake image of former health secretary Matt Hancock holding a microphone saying the same words.

'Gas a Jew'

Prosecutor David Roberts said the messages were alleged to be "racially aggravated... given the context of Tottenham Hotspur's fans coming from a Jewish area".

Other tweets sent by Blagg included a photograph and a video of Nazi salutes being performed, while one message read: "Yids tomorrow, which means for the next 48 hours I can tweet as much anti-Semitism as I want without being told off."

The following day, Blagg wrote: "Gas a Jew, Jew, Jew."

Blagg was arrested in February after a West Brom fan reported his messages, which were investigated by Chelsea's security team.

Maeve Thornton, defending, said Blagg had been suffering from "low moods" at the time because of the pandemic.

"He has got drawn into this in terms of a lack of awareness and understanding of the impact this was going to have," she said, adding that "with hindsight, he now understands how wrong this is".

Blagg was released on unconditional bail ahead of sentencing.