Man who incited violence against lawyers jailed for three years

A man from Northampton has been convicted after sharing a post advocating violence against a law firm.

Tyler Kay, 26, was jailed for 38 months on Friday after pleading guilty at Northampton Crown Court to publishing material intending to stir up racial hatred. He was among the first group of individuals convicted for online activity after last week’s riots, during which certain law firms were named as potential targets. 

Kay had written a post on Twitter calling for hotels housing asylum seekers to be set alight. He responded to comments posted by others following his message saying it was ‘100% the plan’.

Kay, a former IT worker, then reposted a screenshot of another message inciting action against a named immigration firm in Northampton ahead of potential disorder on Wednesday with the message ‘let’s go!!!’.

At one point he tagged the Northamptonshire Police in his posts and used his own name and profile picture.

Kay was arrested by officers from Northamptonshire Police and appeared at Northamptonshire Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

Rosemary Ainslie, acting head of the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said: ‘It’s important that I make it absolutely clear – online actions have real consequences.

‘Tyler Kay wrote about setting fire to hotels and amplified posts advocating action against immigrations solicitors – this online behaviour will not be tolerated.

‘He was jailed two days after he made the social media post, which displays just how quickly offenders such as Kay will be brought to justice.’

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