Mo Salah: Man admits sending racist tweets about Liverpool FC football star

The man tweeted about Mo Salah earlier in August
EPA
Jacob Jarvis9 August 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A man has pleaded guilty to posting racist tweets about Liverpool FC star Mo Salah.

Gary Hyland, 32, admitted racially/religiously aggravated intentional harassment and obstructing an officer in the execution of his duty at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Friday.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said said Hyland, who is reportedly an Everton FC fan, posted the offensive tweets during a discussion with Liverpool fans at 3.40am on August 6.

He joked about the Muslim striker praying to Mecca at half time and posted a picture of him with a suicide vest superimposed on his body, the CPS said.

Merseyside Police arrested Hyland at his home in Church Road, Waterloo, two days later and the court heard he told officers: "I know I'll get charged. It was me."

He became obstructive with police on the way to the custody suite.

Sophie Leyland, of Mersey Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Hyland admitted his guilt at an early stage and in comments to officers on arrest.

"He admitted what he'd done was stupid.

"But these sorts of remarks fuel racial hatred and are extremely offensive to people from the race or religion that they are aimed at."

Hyland will be sentenced on August 30.

Additional reporting by PA.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT