Former Stoneacre car salesman jailed for racist social media rant by Priti Patel

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A former Stoneacre Motor Group car salesman whose racist social media rant about Home Secretary Priti Patel has gone viral has been jailed for 10 weeks.

Thorne-based car retail group AM100 quickly distanced itself from former Retford employee Jake Henderson when his Snapchat post went viral on Twitter in January – calling his actions a “hate crime act.” “.

This week Henderson, 30, of Retford, was jailed for 10 weeks for the post – initially to a closed social media group on Snap Chat – which was later shared by another man on Twitter.

His friend Robert Cumming (26), from Doncaster, was jailed for six weeks for sharing the video of Hnedrson, which was filmed as Patel gave a COVID briefing on television.

Reporting on the resulting court case this week, the BBC said Prosecutor Daniel Church revealed the Snapchat video was not an isolated incident because Henderson had “previously behaved in such a way. overtly racist “.

He had phoned a taxi company and threatened to shoot one of their cars, after seeing rumors online that one of them was being driven with an Isis flag hanging on it and also posted tweets racist, homophobic and sexist online.

In mitigation, Henderson’s attorney said he made the video while intoxicated, while having “tough times at work” and finding “the lockdown particularly difficult.”

Chief Crown Attorney Janine Smith said: “This video and the vile sentiments expressed targeted individuals and communities and caused widespread distress and concern.

“As this is a hate crime, we asked the court to increase the sentence and the court took this into account by issuing an immediate custodial sentence instead of a suspended sentence.”

In January, Stoneacre found himself associated with Henderson as reporters attempting to follow him noted the company listed as his workplace on a LinkedIn profile.

Stoneacre quickly responded to inquiries to assure media that Henderson had been out of his job for “some time,” calling his comments in the online video “an act of hate crime and grave disgust.”

“It has come to our attention that an individual posted comments that Stoneacre considers an act of hate crime and serious disgust,” the group said.

“We would like to reassure the public and our loyal customers that this person is not currently employed by Stoneacre and has not been for some time.”

Taking to Twitter to further highlight the lack of association between Henderson and Stoneacre, the group’s chief executive, Shaun Foweather, took to Twitter to reiterate the point.

He said: “Due to data protection, I cannot comment beyond confirming that the individual is not an employee of Stoneacre and has not been for 12 months.

“Racism has no place at Stoneacre and all employees have a company manual that outlines the code of conduct expected of them, and we recognize that if a current employee behaves in this way, they ‘would face disciplinary action leading to dismissal.

“As this could turn into a criminal investigation, we will no longer be making public comments as it may affect the outcome of any potential charges / trials under the Contempt of Court Act 1981.”

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