Two Men, 26 and 30, Are Jailed over Vile Racist Social Media Video Targeting Priti Patel

Two men who uploaded and shared a viral racist video mocking Home Secretary Priti Patel have been jailed.

Jake Henderson, 30, was handed a ten-week sentence at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court after making the original video, in which he records Mrs Patel as she is making the daily Covid-19 briefing and makes a racially offensive remark.

Henderson, previously of Retford, uploaded the 48-second clip to a closed Snapchat group in January before Robert Cumming, 26, of Doncaster, shared it on another closed group.

In the video, Henderson could be heard saying: ‘I’m a white man and I won’t be told what to do by a P***.’

He adds: ‘I am a white man, still white, with ginger bits, and they want me to take advice from this b**** called Priti Patel and this p*** man next to her.

‘Now as a white man I won’t be listening to people of colour because they’re nobodies in position of power.’

Cumming shared the clip along with the caption ‘Haters gonna be hating’, followed by four laughing emojis.

This was then shared by a third party, allowing for the offensive clip to go viral.

Cumming was jailed for six weeks. Both had been told a custodial sentence was inevitable.

The court heard how Henderson had been having a difficult time at work and found lockdown ‘particularly difficult.’

His defence said he had returned home and started drinking, which was out of character for him.

The daily Covid briefing was on television and after drinking, he ‘made a horrid video’, his lawyer told the court.

His defence argued that he was not responsible for the video going viral, and said he had suffered death threats as a result.

The court was also told that Henderson’s parents had to be taken out their home by police escort due to safety concerns and that Henderson became suicidal as his relationship ended and he was sacked as a football manager for a local team.

Prosecutor Dan Church told the court the video was ‘motivated by hostility towards members of racial groups’.

Mr Church said Cumming’s sharing of the clip was ‘clearly an endorsement’ of those views set out by Henderson.

A Rotherham councillor previously made a statement to the court after the town was mentioned specifically in the clip, saying: ‘I feel the comments were directed at everyone in Rotherham, especially the Asian community.

‘The comments are very extreme and were not made in a joking manner.

‘They were not off-hand racist comments – it was an ideological view.’

She said she feared that someone ‘will be attacked locally, as has happened previously.’

Cumming and Henderson had previously entered their guilty pleas on June 29.

The pair pleaded guilty to a single charge of sending a grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message or matter via a public communication network.

The offence was between January 20 and January 23 this year.

Cumming was interviewed on January 26. He admitted he saved Henderson’s video so he could upload it to his Snapchat account. He said he posted the video to show his disagreement with Henderson.