After all, arrogance often doesn’t hold up in a court of law, as Wayne O’Rourke learned firsthand this week when he was sentenced to three years in prison for inciting violent riots across the country.
Far-right Twitter user X arrested for inciting riots
Unrest has erupted in dozens of cities and towns across the UK following the brutal murder of three young girls in Southport, with far-right elements on social media claiming the attacker was Muslim and had recently arrived in the UK on a small boat.
This information turned out to be false when the perpetrator was revealed to be a teenager from Cardiff, but by the time the truth was made public, it had already incited thousands of far-right thugs to take to the streets and cause widespread unrest.
A rapid legal process saw over 1,000 arrests throughout August, with rioters and agitators facing the full force of the law. O’Rourke, who runs the popular “Sick Of It”/@WayneGB88 page, found that keyboard warriors were no exception.
‘Fed up’ – Twitter/X executive taken down by legal system
The judge harshly criticised O’Rourke’s defence, rejecting his argument that his posts inciting violence were actually “dark humour”. The Lincolnshire-based defendant urged his 90,000 followers to “go to hell with the police” and “take to the streets” to join the riots.
According to local media, O’Rourke admitted posting the racist comments online between July 28 and August 8. The court heard that O’Rourke has no previous convictions but was cautioned for fraud in 2018. He was also believed to have earned around Β£1,400 a month from the posts.
The prominent Twitter user will now serve 36 months in prison, the latest in a long line of far-right sympathizers who have been convicted and sentenced in recent weeks. O’Rourke’s lawyer also said he wanted to “learn the mistakes he made.”
Far-right agitator’s joke about arrest blows up in his face
But this contrition led to a marked change in tone: Just days before being hauled before a judge, this angry man had challenged police, claiming that they “couldn’t arrest me” because he was an illegal immigrant.
The police can’t arrest me. I’m an illegal immigrant.
β Sick of itπ¬π§π¬π§πΊπΈπΊπΈ (@WayneGb88) August 11, 2024