Newcastle man handed suspended sentence over offensive tweets

A Newcastle man has been handed a 16-month suspended sentence after posting offensive tweets.

Nathan Thompson, aged 25, of Whickham View, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to six offences of inciting racial hatred and two offences of malicious communications at Newcastle Crown Court in March.

It follows Counter Terrorism Policing identifying two X (formerly Twitter) accounts which were sharing extreme right wing, racist, antisemitic, and transphobic content.

The Court heard how Thompson had shared or reposted offensive, extreme right-wing messages about black and brown people, Jews, Muslims, refugees, immigrants and members of the LGBT community.

The accounts used by Thompson were visible to the public and also shared support for those who have carried out terror attacks in the past.

The accounts were traced back to Thompson, leading to his arrest in July 2023.

Enquiries traced the accounts back to Thompson, which resulted in Counter Terrorism Policing North East arresting him in July 2023.

In interview following his arrest, Thompson accepted responsibility for both offending Twitter accounts.

In sentencing Judge Clemitson told Thompson his posts celebrated Hitler and his actions and fascism. She added that the messages dehumanised refugees and people from non-white ethnic groups.

They also depicted deliberately offensive images such as the Qur'an being burned, she added.

She said: “Each homophobic, transphobic, Islamophobic, antisemitic, racist or fascist tweet fans the flames of division and hatred.”

But she did not impose an immediate custodial sentence, adding Thompson had “borderline” learning difficulties and was 'isolated', spending a great deal of time in his bedroom on his computer.

He was handed a 16-month jail term suspended for two years. As a requirement of his sentence, the judge said Thompson's use of the internet should be closely monitored by police or probation officers.

Detective Chief Superintendent James Dunkerley, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North East, said:

“The Counter Terrorism Policing network works around the clock to identify harmful content online and bring to justice anyone promoting such material on social media.

“If you’ve seen material expressing extreme views or hatred, trust your instincts and report any posts or activity of concern to police so we can act on it.

“You can report in confidence at gov.uk/ACT.”

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