How is this proportional and fair?

[SimonMac]

We have a veteran of a nasty conflict retaliating to this horrible crime:

BBC News - Man guilty of burning poppies at Armistice Day protest (50 quid fine)

""The two-minute chanting, when others were observing a silence, followed by a burning of the symbol of remembrance was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead and those who mourn or remember them."

Falklands vet , puts a pigs head outside a mosque and gets 4 months....

BBC News - Pig's head at Cheltenham mosque: Simon Parkes jailed

I'm as left as they come and am scratching my head here.... Despite him looking pretty rough, he's a veteran whos put his own life on the line for our country and beliefs....

One is inciting racial hatred and criminal damage, where as the other is a public order offence. Next question please.

[speling bee]

What was criminally damaged?

I didn't read the articles.

I read it for you.

A former soldier who tied a pig's head to the gates of a Cheltenham mosque has been jailed for four months.

Simon Parkes, 45, from Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, also sprayed racist graffiti during the attack in November 2010, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

[Spacecadet]

What was criminally damaged?

I didn't read the articles.

Simon Parkes, 45, from Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire, also sprayed racist graffiti during the attack in November 2010, Gloucester Crown Court heard.

Differences in sentences can also be attributed to different judges.

[d000hg]

They're different types of idiotry, why should they have the same response?

[Mich the Tester]

If only we had a law against 'being a complete and utter useless tuliphead' then the chappy who burnt poppies could be sent down too. And a few others with him.

[Scoobos]

One is inciting racial hatred and criminal damage, where as the other is a public order offence. Next question please.

I think that burning poppies in front of mourners , with its context in the wars in the Islamic world, is both racial hatred and criminal damage. The poppies were not his property, isn't this the same???

[speling bee]

If only we had a law against 'being a complete and utter useless tuliphead' then the chappy who burnt poppies could be sent down too. And a few others with him.

So you want less freedom of expression?

I think 50 quid is quite harsh, bearing in mind that all Tony Blair got for the crime of starting an aggressive war was a job as Middle East Peace Envoy

[cojak]

And it's all about context, geographical in this instance.

I've lived there and still have family in the area. There's always been an undercurrent of racism in this part of Gloucestershire.

I suspect that there's been an increase lately and steps have been taken to put a stop to it.

[Gibbon]

We have a veteran of a nasty conflict retaliating to this horrible crime:

BBC News - Man guilty of burning poppies at Armistice Day protest (50 quid fine)

""The two-minute chanting, when others were observing a silence, followed by a burning of the symbol of remembrance was a calculated and deliberate insult to the dead and those who mourn or remember them."

Falklands vet , puts a pigs head outside a mosque and gets 4 months....

BBC News - Pig's head at Cheltenham mosque: Simon Parkes jailed

I'm as left as they come and am scratching my head here.... Despite him looking pretty rough, he's a veteran whos put his own life on the line for our country and beliefs....

The first was a public order offence.

The second was a religious hate crime.

[northernladuk]

They're different types of idiotry, why should they have the same response?

and

One is inciting racial hatred and criminal damage, where as the other is a public order offence. Next question please.

+1 to both for me. Once you lose sight of this then the do gooders win and it will all go wrong. The law is the law and it has to be ultra clear and distinct else anarchy will prevail.