Ian Wright has expressed his disappointment after an Irish teenager avoided a criminal conviction after sending the former England and Arsenal striker racist abuse on Instagram.
20 messages were sent by Patrick O’Brien, 18, to Wright after he lost a Fifa game in May 2019, blaming the loss on picking Wright in his team.
Wright had accepted a written apology from O’Brien for his abuse prior to the hearing, but stated he was surprised at the judge’s decision.
The former Arsenal record goal scorer confirmed in a public statement that he “wasn’t expecting my forgiveness to be an invitation to lighten a sentence.”
O’Brien was given probation at the hearing on Wednesday, with the proceeding Judge David Waters saying that he “didn’t see anything to be gained” by imposing a criminal conviction.
Wright expressed his frustration with this outcome, with the BBC pundit confirming his discontent behind the verdict.
“An individual wished death on me because of my skin colour, no Judge’s claims of ‘naivety’ or ‘immaturity’ will be acceptable to us.”
The reaction to the verdict has been widely negative, with MP Diane Abott saying that “It is appalling that, even when the police are able to track down these racists who abuse & threaten black people online, they get away without a criminal conviction.”
This decision comes off the back of a number of recent racist abuse cases, with Southampton 19 year old midfielder Alex Jankewitz receiving racist abuse after his early red card in the 9-0 loss to Man United, with the club condemning that abuse and reporting it to the police.
And last week, Manchester United reported three of their squad were subject to racist messages following their loss to Sheffield United, leading to increased calls on social media companies to identify and punish those sending the messages.
Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe and Anthony Martial were the three players subjected to abuse, with Rashford publicly condemning the abuse that they received.
“Yes, I’m a black man and I live every day proud that I am. No one, or no one comment, is going to make me feel any different. So sorry if you were looking for a strong reaction, you’re just simply not going to get it here.”
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