Man who smeared sausage meat on front door of Nottingham mosque sentenced to community service

Jamie Mullins and accomplice Mathew Sarsfield branded 'idiots' after vandalising Sherwood Education and Culture Centre in hate crime while 'feeling patriotic'

Jamie Mullins arrives at Nottingham Magistrates' Court (Josh Payne/PA)

A man has been given 40 hours of unpaid work after he admitted smearing pork sausage meat over a lock on the front door of a mosque.

Jamie Mullins went to the Sherwood Education and Culture Centre in Nottingham with his friend, Mathew Sarsfield on 18 June after “feeling patriotic” watching an English boxer.

He approached the front door of the mosque, and CCTV footage presented to magistrates showed him wipe his hand on his trousers after smearing the meat on the lock.

The 28-year-old, of Palmerston Gardens, Nottingham, along with Sarsfield, 31, of Sherbrook Road in Daybrook, Nottingham, then draped an English flag over a flowerpot outside the building and took selfies in front of it.

At Nottingham Magistrates' Court, both men pleaded guilty to a religiously aggravated display of threatening or abusive writing that was likely to cause distress or anxiety.

Mullins also admitted religiously aggravated criminal damage.

Mullins was given 40 hours of unpaid work, a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement, given a restraining order not to enter the premises of the centre and ordered to pay £285 in costs and Sarsfield was fined £230.

Dr Muhammad Saeed Mughal, chairman of the committee at the mosque, said in a victim impact statement: “I'm always looking around to check they haven't come back again.”

He then went on to say that he now felt “exposed”, and said: “I have found that I have lost privacy in my life.”

Branding both men “idiots” chairman of the bench Paul Ensor said: “Your behaviour was stupid, reprehensible and not acceptable in a civilised society.

“If you add a racial element into it, it becomes far more serious.

“If I was viewing that, and it was me on there, I would be ashamed.

“Whatever your beliefs, it does not excuse behaviour like that.”

Representing himself, Sarsfield said: “I am ashamed of what I have done.”

No mitigation from Mullins was presented in court.

Steven Kennell from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The actions of these two defendants were a clear act of complete disrespect, directed at the community of Muslim worshippers at the mosque.

“The CPS has outlined the serious nature of this offending and demonstrated that it was motivated entirely by hostility towards the religion of their victims.

“Everyone has the right to practice their religion without harassment.

“The court has acknowledged the seriousness of this offending by the increased sentence given to both defendants.”

PA