A retired policeman convicted of a “grossly offensive” posts has admitted he now fears the resurrection of a blasphemy law.
Stephen Gray, 65, who served almost 30 years in Cleveland Police in the north east, went on trial in April.
Despite hundreds of other individuals resharing the same posts, the former officer was found guilty of making a grossly offensive post on Facebook under the Section 127(1)(a) of the Communications Act 2003.
He was charged for resharing two “offensive” posts on Facebook despite not penning the material himself.
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Those prosecuting Mr Gray had also brought up other posts made by the 65-year-old, including those taking aim at Sir Keir Starmer and the wider Labour Party, “for context”.
With the support from the Free Speech Union, he has started an appeal for his conviction which will be heard in November.
One image the former policeman shared showed an image of a Middle Eastern man and said “time for mass deportation” and “children in need”.
The caption read: “12-year-old Mohammed recently arrived at Dover.
“Please donate to help him move from a three-star to a five-star hotel which has a better halal menu, free wifi and Sky and is nearer to a girls’ school.”
The other image showed a man in a turban alongside a rasher of bacon.
The caption read: “Fun facts about Bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a nine-year-old!”
Mr Gray said his conviction proved the Government was going down a “dangerous road” and accused Whitehall of trying to “use the justice system to get us to stop criticising” Islam.
Blasphemy laws in the UK were formally abolished almost 20 years ago to protect people to exercise freedom of speech over matters of religion.
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However, instances like Mr Gray’s conviction have triggered fears of blasphemy laws “through the back door” over matters relating to Islam.
The person who made the complaint about the post was one of the ex-officer’s neighbours and was not Muslim. They had a previous unrelated disagreement with Mr Gray, The Telegraph revealed.
Back in April, the judge ruled the first post was not offensive as it was a political matter which had been discussed in Parliament.
But the second image was deemed “grossly offensive” as it was about religion, and led to Mr Gray’s conviction.
But Mr Gray explained he now feared for the future of his foster daughter, as his conviction over the post could impact safeguarding checks.
“I was initially quite worried because obviously we have to have enhanced DBS checks to foster children,” he told The Telegraph.
“These kids have enough to put up with without the fear they may be moving again hanging over their heads.”
He admitted several posts might have been in “bad taste” but argued they were merely satirical posts.
“Some of them may upset one or two people, but I didn’t think for one second it would be cast as grossly offensive by the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and by the courts. Not for one second,” he explained.
He added that it was an “ironic joke about Islam”, saying: “That is all it was at the end of the day. A joke.”
When Mr Gray told his former boss at Cleveland Police about the case, he was “absolutely gobsmacked”.
The retired officer said: “He couldn’t believe it. Back when I was serving, if I had taken this case to my sergeant or inspector, I would have been on foot beat night shift for the next five years for wasting everybody’s time. It wouldn’t have got past the front door of the police station.”
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