Facebook rant man spared jail

A man who posted a Facebook message saying "all soldiers should die and go to hell" after six British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan has been spared jail.

Azhar Ahmed, 20, admitted posting the message two days after the deaths of the servicemen in March. He was charged after the mother of one of the soldiers read the comments and called the police. Ahmed told a trial at Huddersfield magistrates' court he did not think what he had written was offensive. But the remarks were described as "derogatory, disrespectful and inflammatory" by a district judge. He was given a two-year community order with 240 hours of community service.