Northern Ireland immigration and riots: Man remanded in custody over Facebook riot posts
A judge said "participation in civil disorder can take many formats" as he refused bail for a Larne man charged in connection with trying to delete "incriminating evidence" on a Facebook page which has posted suggested addresses of the Roma community.
Paul White, 25, of Fairway, is charged on June 14 this year with intent to pervert the course of public justice by allegedly trying to access the email and password of the 'Larne Anti-Immigration Protests' Facebook page after a co-accused was arrested.
Objecting to bail, a PSNI officer told Antrim Magistrates' Court, sitting in Ballymena yesterday, how police seized a mobile phone and the defendant declined to provide an access code but officers were able to access the phone.
The officer said the Facebook page had included posts of possible addresses of members of the Roma community.
The defendant, it was said, had attempted to pervert the course of justice by attempting to access the account of an associate to remove or delete “incriminating evidence” on the anti-immigration page “which was under police investigation” in connection with photos being posted online of possible addresses for members of the Roma community during the recent public disorder.
In texts the defendant was told the associate was being arrested and for him to “remove that group quick”.
The officer said the defendant failed to gain access to the associate's account to achieve deletion.
Reference was also made to a suggestion that a mobile phone should be reported stolen as the provider would then “wipe the phone clean”.
It was also suggested that if complaints were made to Facebook about the page that Facebook would take it down, the court heard.
The police officer said the page was also used to organise protests like at the Housing Executive in Larne and Larne Leisure Centre.
When interviewed the defendant said he had gone to a “peaceful protest” on June 11 involving around 200 people. The officer said that was the day of an arson attack at Larne Leisure Centre.
The court was told the defendant said he saw people with masks on and that he was “approached by a local political representative to go and speak to this group with masks on but the was afraid to do so”.
The officer added: “He said that once the disorder broke out that he stayed for about 20 minutes and then once the police evidence gathering truck arrived he left and went home. He denied being involved in the disorder at the Leisure Centre.”
The defendant told police that after disorder broke out he was wanting to delete any posts he had made because he no longer “wanted to be involved because he was not a violent man in any way”.
The officer said the public disorder was “racially aggravated” and there was a fear "foreign nationals" could be killed.
A defence barrister said once the protests turned violent the defendant wanted to take “himself away from all of that” and his attempts to remove online activity happened when he “panicked”.
A co-accused has already appeared in court.
Refusing bail, District Judge Nigel Broderick said: “It is quite clear the alleged offending is linked to the rioting that went on in Ballymena and other locations in Northern Ireland.”
He told the defendant: “Participation in civil disorder can take many formats, principally being in a public place and throwing objects at homes of people and police officers is one very obvious example but equally those who engage in online activities can contribute to civil disorder and I am satisfied that you fall into that category.”
The defendant was remanded into custody and the case was adjourned to July 10.