Man jailed for livestreaming himself racially abusing England stars Rashford, Saka and Sancho following Euro 2020 final
A MAN has been jailed for livestreaming himself racially abusing England stars Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho following the Euro 2020 final.
Jonathon Best, 52, shared a vile rant on Facebook aimed at the three youngsters after they missed their penalties in the Wembley shootout defeat at the hands of Italy.
The forklift driver from West London has now been jailed for ten weeks after pleading guilty to 'sending by public communication network a grossly offensive or indecent or obscene or menacing message or matter'.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Best was caught after a Facebook friend reported the 18-second post.
The social media user had reportedly asked Best to remove the clip.
But Best refused, with the video subsequently reported to Facebook and the police.
Following the sentencing, Elaine Cousins, from the CPS, said: “Jonathon Best took to Facebook to livestream a barrage of racist abuse at the three players who missed penalties during the game.
"He used social media to publicly vilify these three young men who tried to score for England.
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"When approached by a Facebook friend asking him to remove the grossly offensive content, Best replied: ‘It’s my profile, I can do what I want.’
“There is absolutely no room in the game, nor elsewhere, for racism.
"The CPS is committed to bringing perpetrators of hate crime to justice where there is the evidence to do so.
“I would like to thank the individual who reported this appalling hate crime.
"I hope this prosecution goes some way in educating and deterring people from posting hate on social media.”
Sancho, Saka and Rashford were subjected to vile racist abuse following the July defeat.
At the time, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told racists who targeted the trio to 'crawl back under their rock'.
Lashing out at vile trolls Johnson told them: "Shame on you".
Prince William, who serves as president of The FA and attended the game with wife Kate and son George, joined in the staunch defence of England's young heroes.
The Duke of Cambridge tweeted: "I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night’s match.
";It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behaviour.
"It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable."
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England boss Gareth Southgate called the attacks 'unforgiveable', as the Met Police vowed to launch a probe into the repellent trolling.