A MAN who posted offensive messages on Facebook after the killing of Leeds teacher Ann Maguire has been jailed for six weeks.
Jake Newsome, 21, wrote that he was glad Mrs Maguire was stabbed in a brutal knife attack and said her killer should have “p***** on her too”.
He posted the vile messages on Facebook three days after the 61-year-old was killed while teaching a Spanish lesson at Corpus Christi Catholic College in Leeds on April 28.
Newsome later admitted to police that he posted the messages. He claimed he empathised with the 15-year-old boy charged with murdering Mrs Maguire because he identified with him.
Prosecutor Sandra White told Leeds Magistrates Court that he wrote: "Personally, I'm glad that teacher got stabbed up. Feel sorry for the kid, he should've p***** on her too."
She added that 40 minutes later he responded to a message saying “that’s not very nice” by commenting “I think it is”.
The court heard that after his message was shared and anger grew online, Newsome was arrested and told police he did not think his comments offensive.
Newsome, from Harehills, Leeds, pleaded guilty to a malicious communication charge last month.
As he returned to the court on Wednesday, his lawyer said he had no previous convictions and understood he would face consequences for the offence his comments caused.
Sentencing him to six weeks behind bars, district judge David Kitson said Newsome’s messages “must have caused distress to all those who knew Mrs Maguire”.
"You clearly came from a troubled background. But this is so serious that nothing more than custodial sentence can suffice,” he added.
Mrs Maguire, whose family hailed from Co. Mayo and whose husband was from Co. Cavan, had taught at Corpus Christi for more than 40 years and was due to retire in September.
The opening of an inquest into her death last month heard that the mother-of-two suffered a number of stab wounds, with one to her neck that severed a major vein proving fatal.
The 15-year-old boy charged with her murder is due to stand trial in November.
