A former soldier from Livingston posted furious messages on a Facebook page urging people to “behead ragheads” on the day Drummer Lee Rigby was brutally murdered. Ex-infantryman Paul Fisher – who served two tours of duty in Iraq – claimed he was venting his anger following the killing outside Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, London.
Livingston Sheriff Court heard the 28-year-old – who suffers from combat stress – went on to the “Stop Destroying Our Armed Forces” Facebook page after being told soldiers were being banned from wearing their uniforms in public. Police officers in North Yorkshire who were monitoring the site – which had over 18,000 members – spotted the post and passed the information on to their colleagues in Scotland.
Fisher, who was described as having an “exemplary” service record in the army, admitted that his racist message was “intended to incite others to carry out serious violence and kill others”.
Fiscal depute Catherine Knowles, prosecuting, said Fisher told cops who asked who he was referring to in his posts that they were aimed at “extremists”.
She said: “When asked about posting to behead people he said that he did that out of anger but understood the gravity of the post and that people reading it would get the wrong impression. He was asked about the term ‘ragheads’ and stated this was an Army term from when he served in Iraq. He stated on a number of occasions he was not a racist.”
Fisher, of Dedridge, Livingston, appeared for sentence last week after earlier pleading guilty to committing a breach of the peace by his use of social media on May 22.
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