Southport pro dart player cleared of sending a communication of an offensive nature
A Southport man who wrote “Awesome” under a vile Facebook post mocking the victims of the holocaust has been cleared of sending a communication of an offensive nature.
Former professional darts player Lee Hayes, 42, of Brooke Close, appeared for trial at Liverpool Community Justice Centre on March 2 to contest both the offence of sending the offensive article and obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty.
The court heard that a man had seen an entry on the local On the Spot News website which caused him to look at Hayes’s Facebook account. There he discovered a post making a joke related to the Nazi concentration camps on his timeline, which Hayes had commented on with the word “Awesome.” Police subsequently attended Hayes’s address on October 20 but he refused to go with officers for questioning.
Represented by solicitor Nick Archer, Hayes said that he used to be a professional darts player and had been tagged by one of his three or four thousand friends on Facebook in the offending post which he said originated from Funny.com. He admitted making the comment and said that after doing so, the post was added to his timeline which was open to the public. He insisted that he had not sent it to anyone and did not intend any offence. He said: “I just seen it as a little giggle. To be honest I am the worst for history… It was just adult humour. You cannot even smile, you can say a word out of order these days.” He told prosecutor Alison Clarkson that he had seen Roy Chubby Brown in Blackpool in 1990s make a similar kind of joke related to the concentration camps, saying “Everyone in the house was in hysterics”, but said he now understood it was offensive and apologised.
Regarding the offence of obstructing a police officer, he admitted making threatening comments, saying that was because of his bipolar condition, but insisted that he had not actually been arrested so did not have to go with the police. The court was shown police bodycam footage, however, and District Judge James Clarke said an officer could be heard making reference to the fact that he had been arrested. The judge therefore found him guilty of obstruction as he said the video clearly showed him refusing to go with the officers.
Acquitting Hayes of the other charge, however, Judge Clarke said that it was a “matter of common sense” that the image on Facebook was grossly offensive but said that given that Hayes had not tagged anybody, or posted it to anybody, he was not satisfied that he’d intended to cause distress or anxiety to anyone, which Mr Archer had emphasised was an essential element of the charge.
The court heard that Hayes had been given a suspended prison sentence at Preston Crown Court last September for offering money to someone when his wife was facing a trial, “in the hope that it would go away”. His wife Samantha was jailed at Liverpool Crown Court last June for biting off part of a woman’s ear at a darts tournament at Birkdale Labour Club.
Hayes was fined £150, ordered to pay costs and victim surcharge of £280, and told that Preston Crown court would be informed of the conviction.
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