Ex-nurse jailed for online celebration of police attackers

Appalled judge refuses mental health check

A voodoo practising former nurse is behind bars for inciting violence against the police and congratulating the killer of policeman Keith Palmer.

Sai Kurn Lee, 51, set up Facebook account Cop Killers, to unleash a string of public messages praising acts of terrorism and calling on the police “to die”, from August last year to March.

Neil Sweeney, prosecuting, read out the Facebook comments in full at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday last week.

He told magistrates that, on March 22 this year, after the death of PC Palmer in the Westminster terror attack, Lee wrote a message saying: “Good riddance to the police scum stabbed to death in London today, you got exactly what you deserved,” adding an abusive comment.

“You deserve a toast to your death.”

The page also included messages such as: “The only good cop is a dead cop”, “All police are vermin and should be exterminated”, “Good riddance to Sai Kurn Lee had an account called Cop Killers the police” and “Death to Kent Police”. Lee also praised a hit and run driver who mowed down two police officers in Glasgow last year, saying they “deserved a pat on the back”.

Mr Sweeney added that when police arrested Lee at his home in Green Fields, Sellindge, there was a satanic emblem on the wall with a knife beside it.

He added that, in interviews with Police last year, Lee said he was depressed after a previous charge for common assault.

Officers also discovered a knife and some nunchucks – martial arts weapons – at his property.

Lee had recently moved in with his girlfriend in Sotherton, Willesborough, Ashford, the court heard.

Defending, Kate Hunter said Lee had suffered mental health problems after losing his job as a nurse trainer for a private company in south Kent.

She also called for a pre-sentencing mental health assessment, but District Judge Baron refused.

He said: “Mr Lee, having heard these comments I shudder. They are horrific and amount to inciting violence that can’t be tolerated.”

Lee was given a 31-week prison sentence, including 14 weeks for breaching a suspended sentence and 17 weeks for the Cop Killer account.

He was also fined £115, to be deducted from his Jobseeker’s Allowance on prison release.

‘Having heard these comments I shudder. They are horrific and amount to inciting violence that can’t be tolerated’