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But had this been a Rangers fan, he'd have been jailed.

 

A Celtic supporter who posted racist and sectarian comments on Facebook has avoided a jail sentence after writing letters of apology to Walter Smith and El Hadji Diouf.

 

Michael Bailey, 20, was given a community order after he left a number of messages on a Facebook page called "Neil Lennon should be banned" and his personal page. The messages were about Rangers fans, former manager Smith and the club�s ex-player, Diouf.

 

Bailey posted comments which included 'Glasgow rangers yous are s*** you bunch of orange b*******' and "Oh the rangers are s**** ya bunch of p*** lovers send diouf back to the jungle and you can go back with him...ya smelly orange c***...soldiers are we...TIOCFAIDH AR LA.".

 

He also described former Rangers manager Walter Smith as a "dirty pie eating Orange b******". On Tuesday, Glasgow Sheriff Court heard Bailey had written letters of apology to those named in his messages.

 

Bailey, from Paisley, pled guilty at an earlier hearing at Glasgow Sheriff Court to a charge of posting comments of a "racist and sectarian nature" on the internet between March 7 and 8 this year - only days after the Old Firm took part in a fiery Scottish Cup match which led to criticism from the Scottish Government and a summit between the clubs, ministers and senior police officers.

 

As part of his sentence, Bailey must carry out 300 hours of community service. He has also been banned from attending any UK football stadium for the next two years.

 

Passing sentence, Sheriff Johanna Johnston QC told Bailey: "Bigotry, sectarianism and racism have caused a lot of problems in the west of Scotland and elsewhere in the country. It is criminal behaviour that has led to outbursts of violence and disorder in the city."

 

Sheriff Johnston added: "You have taken some action to apologise to those you directly offended." The Sheriff said she would have had "no hesitation" in sending Bailey, a first offender, to jail if had he shown any signs of violence or incitement to violence.

 

The court heard how a police taskforce began a review of social network sites and their contents after an increase of sectarian football-related hostility and offending following the Old Firm match on March 2.

 

Stephen Bentley, defending said: "Mr Bailey has written individually to all of the people who are named within these postings." He described his client as "genuinely horrified at his actions" and "remorseful". Mr Bentley added: "I think he has simply had the shock of his life."

 

With all the hullaballoo about sectarianism, you'd have expect a harsher sentence. Well, it would have been if it had been us.

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Guest Dutchy

By the things that that George Galloway says, if he were in support of anti-catholic rhetoric, he'd be pulled up as well.

 

It's a bit like all these bad racists laws, poor laws result in poor decisions.

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