A man has pleaded guilty today (Wednesday 6 October) to sending an obscene message via a social network after posting a racist video about England black football players after the Euro 2020 final in July.
On 11 July 2021, after the Euro 2020 final, Bradford Pretty, 49 of Folkestone, Kent uploaded a video of himself on his Facebook account talking about the final. In this video, Pretty made racist slurs about specific football players who missed penalties during the match. A further video was posted where Pretty apologised for the first video but saying he does not care if he offended anyone.
This video was reported to Kent Police which investigated and referred the evidence to the CPS. The CPS then authorised Kent Police to charge Pretty with sending an obscene message via a social network.
Pretty pleaded guilty at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court to one count of sending an obscene message by social network and was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work and 50 days in custody suspended for 12 months. He was also fined £85.
Elizabeth Jenkins, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor and Hate Crime in football lead of the CPS, said: “There is no room in the game, nor elsewhere, for racism. Where there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest, we will prosecute such cases and seek an increased sentenced on conviction.
“Hate crimes such as these have a massive impact on players and their mental health. The CPS takes this kind of offending very seriously and this case shows that where offensive content is reported to the police, we can successfully bring offenders to justice.”
The CPS is currently working with the police, clubs, player bodies and organisations, like the Premier League, the English Football League and the Football Association to explain what evidence we need to pass our legal tests to authorise charges against offenders in terms of language aimed at players which is criminally offensive and malicious. This will help clubs and the leagues protect their players by ensuring we get everything we need to build the strongest cases.
Mark Tavender, Senior Crown Prosecutor of the CPS, continued: “The video uploaded to Facebook by Bradford Pretty was entirely unacceptable and included racist language that will never be tolerated in our society.
“After Kent Police reported the case to the CPS, we made the decision to charge Pretty with sending an obscene message via a social network. Pretty then entered a guilty plea in which he accepted the charge
“The CPS is committed to tackling Hate Crime wherever it appears in society and will never hesitate to prosecute crimes of this nature whenever our legal test is met.”
