Men smeared sausage meat over mosque's door lock after 'feeling patriotic' watching English boxer
Two men in England have admitted religious hate offences after pork sausage meat was smeared over a lock on the front door of a mosque.
Jamie Mullins and Mathew Sarsfield went to the Sherwood Education and Culture Centre in Nottingham on June 18 after "feeling patriotic" watching an English boxer.
Mullins, of Palmerston Gardens, Nottingham, approached the front door of the mosque, and CCTV footage presented to magistrates showed him wipe his hand on his trousers after smearing the meat on the lock.
The 28-year-old, along with Sarsfield, 31, of Sherbrook Road in Daybrook, Nottingham, then draped an English flag over a flowerpot outside the building and took selfies in front of it.
Prosecutor Neil Fawcett told the court that it was clear from Sarsfield's Facebook page that his beliefs were akin to those of the English or Scottish Defence League.
He said posts on Sarsfield's Facebook page included: "It is not racist to love your people and white lives matter."
Mr Fawcett also made reference to a post that read: "Criticising a religion that encourages men to marry children isn't racist, it is a moral obligation."
At Nottingham Magistrates' Court, both men pleaded guilty to a religiously aggravated display of threatening or abusive writing that was likely to cause distress or anxiety.
Mullins also admitted religiously aggravated criminal damage.
Dr Mughal, chairman of the committee at the mosque, said in a victim impact statement: "I'm always looking around to check they haven't come back again."
He then went on to say that he now felt "exposed", and said: "I have found that I have lost privacy in my life."
Representing himself, Sarsfield said: "I am ashamed of what I have done."
Branding Sarsfield an "idiot" and handing him a fine, chairman of the bench Paul Ensor said: "If I was viewing that, and it was me on there, I would be ashamed.
"Whatever your beliefs, it does not excuse behaviour like that.
"You're an idiot, if you walked away you wouldn't have been here."
Mullins is due to be sentenced later after reports have been collected.
