Ex-Royal Marine is cleared in just 17 minutes of stirring up racial hatred on Facebook following Southport murders after spending 20 days remanded in prison_Nhy
An ex-Royal Marine, who was also an apprentice at Manchester United, was cleared by a jury in just 17 minutes after being accused of stirring up racial hatred online.
Jamie Michael, 46, from Penygraig, southeast Wales, served in the Iraq War and was twice sent to Sierra Leone as a peacekeeper.
The former serviceman was remanded in prison for 20 days after the decision was made to prosecute him for a 12-minute-long clip he posted to Facebook on July 31 last year entitled ‘This is what I think,’ The Telegraph reported.
The post was made two days after the murder of three young girls in Southport by Axel Rudakubana, amid a climate of general unrest over immigration.
In the clip, which has been seen by more than 16,000 people, Mr Michael, who now works as a massage therapist, urged people ‘to get ready’ but stressed that he wasn’t referring to violent attacks.
He said: ‘We need to start organizing. Which doesn’t mean getting bats and knives and going doing what they [the rioters] are doing.
‘I’m talking about doing things the right way, getting in big groups, having meetings, and going to the council and the police and politicians.’
However, Mr Michael now acknowledges that some of his views were expressed ‘clumsily’.
Jamie Michael, 46, from Penygraig, southeast Wales, served in the Iraq War and was twice sent to Sierra Leone as a peacekeeper
The former serviceman was remanded in prison for 20 days after the decision was made to prosecute him for a 12-minute-long monologue he posted to Facebook on July 31 last year giving his thoughts on immigration and the Southport attacks
Mr Michael was unanimously acquitted by a jury in only 17 minutes at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on February 04
In the video he described newly-arrived immigrants as ‘psychopaths’, adding; ‘We need to make sure that none of these scumbags come into our valley and settle here, making things unsafe for our children.’
He also spoke about holding local Labour councillors ‘personally responsible if anything happens to our little ones’.
His video was reported to police by a staffer from the office of Buffy Williams, a Labour member of the Senedd – the Welsh Parliament.
Speaking now, Mr Michael told The Telegraph: ‘It was because I expressed my fear [that] the Labour Party is helping more migration that I think the video was seen as politically motivated.’
The father-of-two now says he feels betrayed by his country and feels his freedom of speech is under threat from what he perceives as a ‘two-tier’ legal system that punishes those who ‘spoke out’.
Mr Michael was arrested on August 9 and held in police custody for three days before appearing before magistrates, where he was denied bail – despite his only previous conviction being for a driving offence 14 years prior.
‘Apparently I was likely to commit ‘further offences’ – it was suggested I even had terrorism intentions,’ he said. ‘It was all a shock – I [had] never seen the inside of a prison.’
He hit rock bottom when he had to sing Happy Birthday to his nine-year-old daughter down the phone from jail.
Mr Michael served in Iraq in 2003, and had two stints as a peacekeeper in Sierra Leone before later working in private security in Iraq and Afghanistan
Jamie Michael (left) now says he feels betrayed by his country and that his freedom of speech is under threat from what he perceives as a ‘two-tier’ legal system that punishes those who ‘spoke out’
A screenshot from the Facebook post that led to Mr Michael’s prosecution
His trial took place at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, which heard how he had been an apprentice footballer with Manchester United, Oxford United, and Cardiff City before joining the Royal Marines.
He served in Iraq in 2003, and later working in private security in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer in 2014, the BBC said.
Mr Michael insists that he is not racist. His legal fees were paid for by the Free Speech Union (FSU), who also arranged for him to be represented by solicitor Luke Gittos and barrister Adam King.
Prosecutors claimed his language was ‘unrelentingly negative’ towards migrants, but Mr King said it was ‘beyond obvious’ that Mr Michael was not referring to all migrants but only violent ones in his monologue.
On Tuesday February 4 he was acquited by a jury at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court who unanimously cleared him of the charge.
When the jury left to deliberate, the ex-army man said he was brought a cup of tea expecting a long wait – only for them to return only a fraction over a quarter of an hour later to acquit him.
Mr Michael said: ‘When I voiced my opinions, the full force of the law came down upon me. Millions of other people have the same concerns about unvetted and unchecked males coming into the country after throwing away their passports.
‘I think there are many people in jail today who shouldn’t be there.’
Mr Michael’s trial took place at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, where he was acquitted by a jury in 17 minutes
Bizarrely, despite his prosecution the video has yet to be taken down from Facebook where it now has more than 16,000 views.
A spokesperson for the Free Speech Union said: ‘Everyone at the FSU is delighted by Jamie’s acquittal. The decision to prosecute him was an attack on free speech.
‘Jamie had urged people to protest peacefully, yet found himself facing the prospect of imprisonment for expressing views that – however objectionable to some Welsh Labour politicians – were lawful.’
