‘A suspended term and a reading list of English classics for a terror conviction is unduly lenient...’
SENTENCE TO BE REVIEWED
The Attorney General’s Office has been asked to review whether an “unduly lenient” sentence was handed to a former Leicester student convicted of a terror offence.
Timothy Spencer QC, the city’s senior resident judge, had ordered Nazi sympathiser Ben John to read classic novels such as Pride and Prejudice instead of jailing him.
The 21-year-old, who had studied criminology at De Montfort University, could have received a maximum 15-year jail term after being found guilty last month of possessing information likely to be useful for preparing an act of terror.
Instead, he was handed a twoyear suspended sentence at Leicester Crown Court on Tuesday.
Ordering him to read some classic literature, the judge told him: “You will tell me what you have read and I will test you on it and if I think you are (lying to) me you will suffer.”
John, whom police described as a “white supremacist with a neoNazi ideology”, was found guilty by a jury on August 12.
his offence, under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act, carries the maximum sentence of 15 years.
The case was brought to court following the discovery on a computer of a publication containing diagrams and instructions on how to construct various explosive devices.
Police said John, of Addison Drive, Lincoln, had also amassed 67,788 documents in bulk downloads on to hard drives, containing “a wealth” of white supremacist and anti-Semitic material.
earlier in the sentencing hearing, Ben Lloyd, prosecuting, told the court John had failed to
respond to warnings in the past, but Judge Spencer concluded his crime was likely to be “an act of teenage folly” and an isolated incident.
As reported by the Mercury on Wednesday, John was ordered by the judge to read famous works.
John was handed a five-year serious crime prevention order and will return to court in January.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Spencer QC asked John: “have you read Dickens? Austen? Start with Pride And Prejudice and Dickens’s A Tale Of Two Cities. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Think about hardy. Think about Trollope. On January 4, you will tell me what you have read and I will test you on it.
“I will be watching you every step of the way. If you let me down you know what will happen.”
he then told John’s barrister, harry Bentley: “he has, by the skin of his teeth, avoided imprisonment.”
It is not known how many requests to review the sentence
have been received by the Attorney General’s Office, but anti-fascist group hope Not hate has sent an open letter asking for a review.
The letter, written by hope Not hate’s chief executive Nick Lowles, stated: “A suspended sentence and a suggested reading list of english classics for a terror conviction is unduly lenient.
“This sentence is sending a message that violent right-wing extremists may be treated leniently by the courts.
“That is a dangerous message to send when the far-right poses the fastest-growing terror threat today.
“These sorts of lenient sentences risk encouraging other young people to access and share terrorist and extremist content because they will not fear the repercussions of their actions.”
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office said: “We have received a request for the sentence to be considered under the unduly lenient sentence scheme. The law officers have 28 days from sentencing to make a decision.”