Ex-footballer not guilty of racial hatred on Facebook

A former Manchester United apprentice and Royal Marine has been cleared of stirring racial hatred on Facebook.

Jamie Michael, of Penygraig, Rhondda Cynon Taf, posted a 12-minute video in which he said illegal immigrants have "the numbers to take over" the country.

In the video, posted two days after the Southport murders, he also used the words "scumbags" and "psychopaths" and warned the country was "under attack".

But the 46-year-old said the targets for his criticism had been Southport killer Axel Rudakubana and "illegal, unchecked or radicalised immigrants".

A jury at Merthyr Crown Court took less than an hour to return a unanimous not guilty verdict.

The court heard that Mr Michael had been an apprentice with Manchester United, Oxford United and Cardiff City before joining the Royal Marines.

He served in Iraq in 2003 and later worked as private security in Iraq and Afghanistan before settling in Wales as a massage therapist.

Mr Michael, who was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer in 2014, denied being racist but admitted he had been "clumsy" with his choice of words when he recorded the video in the aftermath of the Southport attack.

"As a parent I felt gut wrenched. I wanted to get some kind of security measures in place for our children," he told the court.

The court heard the video was reported to police by a member of staff from local Labour MS Buffy Williams' office.

James Wilson, prosecuting, said Mr Michael's tone in the video had been "unrelentingly negative" towards migrants.

But Adam King, defending, said it was "beyond obvious" the strong language did not refer to all migrants.

He added: "The overall tone and message is totally fair enough – do more to stop child murderers or similar from coming into the country, go to the police or politicians with practical ideas for how to protect children. These are not mad ideas."