Husband slams ‘two-tier justice’ as spouse, 53, jailed for Southport Facebook put up is denied parole however some rioters are freed
The husband of a grandmother who was jailed over social media posts made during last summer’s Southport riots has slammed Britain’s ‘two-tier’ justice system after she was denied parole.
Julie Sweeney, 53, spent Christmas behind bars despite some rioters being released under Labour’s new ‘early release scheme’.
Sweeney was jailed last June after posting on social media that mosques should be blown up in response to the killing of three young girls in Southport.
Under the original conditions of her sentencing, the 53-year-old was eligible for parole three months into her prison term. However, she was deemed unsuitable for early release as her post included a threat to kill.
Branded a ‘keyboard warrior’ by the judge at her sentencing before Chester Crown Court, Sweeney will be next eligible for early release in February.
The move to deny her pre-Christmas parole was one which sparked fury online, with some calling the decision an example of a ‘two-tier’ justice system.
The grandmother’s husband, David Sweeney, has said ‘the mind boggles’ when it comes to how his wife was denied parole.
Attributing her actions to an ’emotional breakdown’ and denying his wife was a racist, Mr Sweeney told The Telegraph: ‘It’s ridiculous. Alright, she posted what she posted but she had a mental breakdown. Those three girls who were killed, we have three granddaughters and it really got to her’.
Julie Sweeney, 53, is serving a 15 month sentence for social media posts made during last summer’s Southport riots
Julie Sweeney (left), pictured with husband David Sweeney who has blasted the decision to deny her parole
The post which saw Sweeney arrested was made to a Kidsgrove community group on Facebook in which she reacted to an image of people cleaning up after the riots. It read: ‘It’s absolutely ridiculous. Don’t protect the mosques. Blow the mosques up with the adults in it’.
A member of the Facebook group, which contained over 5,000 members, then alerted local authorities to Sweeney’s post.
When arrested, Sweeney, who is also her husband’s full-time carer, told officers: ‘I’m not being rude, but there are a lot of people saying it.
Conceding that the post was unacceptable, Sweeney claimed she had not meant to make people afraid and had made the remarks in a fit of anger.
Judge Steven Everett, the recorder of Chester, told Sweeney at her sentencing that ‘even people like you need to go to prison’.
The decision to prevent the downgrading of Sweeney’s sentencing to home detention has also been criticised, with other rioters convicted of harassment having already been freed.
Philip Hoban, a self-proclaimed ‘paedophile hunter’, was sentenced to eight months behind bars, but only served three of those.
The 48-year-old had abused Pro-Palestinian protesters in Leeds last summer by imitating the manner in which Muslim people pray and rubbing his lips towards a person of colour.
Jordan Plain, was another arrested at the same Leeds demonstration. The 30-year-old was also released just three months into an eight month sentence for racially aggravated intentional harassment.
Other rioters have been freed under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s early release scheme
It is understood that both Hoban and Plain were released as part of Labour’s new ‘early release scheme’, a policy which has drawn the ire of the likes of Elon Musk, who has labelled Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as ‘two-tier Keir’ online.
Discussing Sweeney’s case, Toby Young, the director of the Free Speech Union, told the Telegraph: ‘It’s ridiculous that Julie has been placed in the same category as prisoners who’ve been convicted of serious offences, including homicide.
‘It shouldn’t include someone who’s been found guilty of saying something unsavoury on social media.
‘Do the authorities now consider speech criminals to be as dangerous as the most serious offenders?’
