Twitter troll jailed for making fun of teacher’s fatal stabbing

A Twitter troll who delighted in the fatal stabbing of teacher Ann Maguire has been jailed for eight weeks.

In the wake of Ms Maguire’s death, Robert Riley bragged to his followers he would not just have killed Ms Maguire but “all the bastard teachers” at Corpus Christi School in Leeds.

The jobless 42-year-old from Cwmavon, Port Talbot, also posted a series of racist tweets claiming Nazi death camp Auschwitz was a “health spa” and suggesting that Muslim babies should be drowned.

Despite a Twitter backlash, Riley, who used the handle @johnriley001, initially revelled in his new found notoriety, boasting he had the “biggest gob this side of the River Severn”.

However, the ex-junkie cut a more forlorn figure when he appeared before Swansea magistrates yesterday.

After pleading guilty to one charge of sending a grossly offensive message via a public communications network, Riley begged for leniency.

However, chairwoman of the bench Georgina Scannell voiced her disgust and said she was left with no choice but to send the defendant straight to jail.

She said: “The offensive messages outraged the public. You had complete disregard for the tragic death of Ann Maguire.

“Besides this, countless other vile messages were made by you.

“The bench finds these were racially and religious aggravated.

“The offences are so serious that only a period of immediate custody can be justified.”

Ms Maguire was stabbed while teaching a lesson at her school on April 28.