Britain First leader jailed for ‘mosque invasion’ in breach of court order
Categories: Latest News
Friday December 16 2016
The Independent and BBC News report on the successful prosecution of Paul Golding, the leader of far right group Britain First, for breaching a court order that forbade the group from entering any mosque in England and Wales for three years.
Bedfordshire police secured the order in August 2016. The police force initiated legal proceedings against Golding on discovery of video footage showing “Britain First members entering Al-Manar Islamic Centre in Cathays, Wales, on August 20 and questioning a member who was forced to explain that the mosque rejected extremism.”
Appearing before the High Court today, Golding admitted breaching the order and being in contempt of court. He was sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment for the offence.
Golding also stood down as leader of the far right group according to the Independent. The group’s deputy leader, Jayda Fransen, was herself in court last month for religious harassment of a Muslim female, Sumayyah Sharpe, during the far right group’s protest in Luton in January 2016.
Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment and was fined £1,000. She was also ordered to pay £620 in costs, a £100 surcharge, and issued with a two-year restraining order preventing her from contacting Sharpe or engaging in intimidating behaviour towards her.
Sentencing Golding at the High Court today, Judge Moloney said the far right group leader’s breach “was a “deliberate and cynical defiance” of the court’s order as well as an affront to the Muslim community not merely in Cardiff but throughout the country where Britain First might circulate its propaganda.”