Chef who used fake name to send ‘vile’ racist messages on Telegram is jailed

A chef who used a fake name to send “vile” racist messages on a messaging app with thousands of members to provoke violence in Birmingham has been jailed for more than two years.

Ehsan Hussain, himself Pakistani, used the name Chris Nolan on a Telegram chat with nearly 12,500 members called Southport Wake Up to encourage violence in the Alum Rock and Bordesley Green areas of Birmingham, sending messages such as “get these Paki scums out” and “we need to take back what’s ours” on August 5.

Hours later, disorder broke out in those areas, which saw a pub and a passing coach attacked, ambulances diverted away from the nearby Heartlands Hospital to other A&E departments and shops and GP surgeries forced to shut.

Jailing Hussain, 25, for two years and four months at Birmingham Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Melbourne Inman KC said the Telegram chat was populated “by those who hold extreme right-wing and racist views”, with Hussain using a pseudonym to incite members to attend areas of the city with a significant Muslim population where they “would be met with violence themselves”.

He shared a news clip of disorder at McDonald’s in Bordesley Green saying: “Pakis f****** everywhere” and that once Alum Rock had been “conquered”, they would “take on” Bradford.

In a separate chat with someone else, Hussain appeared to admit what he had done and encouraged them to fool the extreme right by using a “white name” to become part of the group and that “he would be surprised how thick they are”.

Hussain pleaded guilty on September 11 at the city’s magistrates’ court to distributing “threatening, abusive or insulting” written material intending to stir up racial hatred, with Rag Chand, mitigating, saying the defendant was “desperately remorseful” for what he had done.

He said: “On any view, this was a colossal collapse of common sense and reason by this defendant and it seems to be at odds with what we know about him.

“His actions demonstrate an immaturity below his actual age. The offending could not be described as particularly sophisticated – he used his own mobile phone and there was no attempt to dispose of it.

“He has a number of positive references which demonstrate his true character. They allude to his charity work and they demonstrate someone who is loyal, hardworking, responsible and a vital part of the family-run takeaway business.

“He accepts completely that what he did was ridiculous to say the least and he is not proud of himself.”

Addressing Hussain, who sat in the dock wearing a grey T-shirt, Judge Inman said he had used “vile racist language under the pretence of sharing such views and encouraging others to come to Alum Rock for violence, where they would themselves be met with violence”.

He said: “Sadly, this is one of a number of cases this court has had to deal with arising from the civil unrest following the tragic events in Southport.

“You identify yourself as a Pakistani male – your own personal views appear to be wholly against those members of that chat group.

“You used a pseudonym and it’s clear you intended to incite others to attend areas of the city and intending they would be met with violence themselves. There are suburbs of this city with a multicultural society and a significant number of Muslims.

“It is a serious aggravating factor that the timing of this was at the time of a very sensitive social climate.

“It was obvious to all that copycat exercises for violence were occurring up and down the country.

“You were no doubt not alone in fuelling the hatred and unrest, but your actions played their part in the resulting violence and disorder hours later.”

Judge Inman said Hussain would serve half of his sentence in prison and the other half on licence and ordered that the phone he used to send the messages was destroyed.