Four men who threw a pig's head into the grounds of a mosque two days after the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby have been jailed.
Thomas
Ashton, 21, Andrew Warner, 31, Travis Crabtree, 25, and Steven White,
28, dumped a carrier bag containing the severed head in the car park of
Blackpool Central Mosque as part of a prank.
The
crime was described as 'poisonous' by Judge Graham Knowles who jailed
the four - despite pleas by the imam of the Lancashire mosque to be
lenient with them.
Andrew
Warner, 31, (left) and Travis Crabtree, 25 (right) have been jailed
after they were part of a gang of four who threw a severed head into
Blackpool Central Mosque just two days after the murder of Fusilier Lee
Rigby
Stephen White, 28, (left) and Thomas Ashton, 21, (right) have also been jailed for dumping the severed head
Judge
Graham Knowles said: 'People are and must be free to worship as they
please and without this kind of foul attack on them and that which they
hold sacred.
'What you four did must be denounced.'
The four men, all from Blackpool admitted a charge of religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.
After
the incident the mosque's imam, Ashfaq Patel. asked for the defendants
to be spared prison. He said: 'As long as they realise what they did was
offensive and wrong, I dont think they should end up behind bars.'
However
Judge Knowles jailed Ashton for 10 months, Warner for seven months,
Crabtree for 14 months and White was sentenced to eight months.
During
a hearing at Preston Crown Court, he told the four: 'Even now the imam
asks for mercy for you and strives to understand you.'
Fusilier Lee Rigby, 25, was murdered in Woolwich, south London, by Islamic extremists in May last year
The
severed pig's head was dumped just days after Fusilier Lee Rigby was
murdered by Islamic extremists in Woolwich, south London, on May 22,
2013.
Michael
Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale were sentenced to life imprisonment for
the murder of the 25-year-old soldier, a father of one. He had been
walking back to his barracks at the time of the attack.
Clare Thomas, prosecuting, said a volunteer saw a carrier bag in the mosque car park on May 24 last year.
Miss Thomas said 'Sticking out of the bag was a pig's ear and he realised it was attached to a pig's head.
'He described himself as being totally shocked.
'It sent a shiver down his spine. Pigs are forbidden for Muslims to touch or have contact with.
'Its presence at a place of worship was highly insulting. Parents and children had started to arrive at the mosque.
'Some of them saw the head and felt offended and angry.'
The severed head was removed by the police and after an investigation a Facebook message was traced to White.
When White was arrested, his iPhone was seized and a video was found showing a car being driven by Warner.
It
recorded comments being made about Muslims, indicating the four knew of
the significance of a pig's head, Miss Thomas told Preston Crown Court.
The
court heard Ashton and Crabtree had gone to buy the pigs head and
Warner and White decided to join in after being told what would happen.
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