A north-east man has been jailed for posting a series of offensive online messages about a tragic toddler who was beaten to death by his own mother.
Shaun Moth was locked up for a year this morning after launching a tirade of vile abuse as the search for three-year-old Mikaeel Kular was still being treated as a missing person inquiry.
The Edinburgh youngster’s body was later found in woods near Kirkcaldy in Fife.
The boy’s mother, Rosdeep Adekoya, was charged with his murder but admitted a charge of culpable homicide and was jailed for 11 years.
Forty-five year-old Moth posted comments on an anti-racism page as a police search for Mikaeel was being carried out.
He previously appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner, making grossly offensive remarks on Facebook and breaching the peace, aggravated by religious prejudice.
Fiscal depute David Bernard previously told the court the case was reported by newspapers and there were appeals on social media before police discovered the child’s body and established that he had been killed.
Mr Bernard said: “On that date (January 16) a post was put on the page for a group entitled ‘Scotland United Against the racist SDL’.
“During the evening of January 16, one of the administrators for that Facebook page logged on to the page and that account to view recent activity.
“At this time she noticed a comment about the missing child which was made at 5.45pm that day by a user named Shaun Moth.
“The comment read ‘Hopefully he’ll be found, under the wheels of a bus’.”
Several other comments were posted on Facebook by Moth, of Whitehills, near Banff, and the administrator was “so offended” she decided to hide them from public view.
Among them was a statement from Moth that he would laugh when others wept when Mikaeel’s body was found.
Another post read: “One less ethnic regardless of his age is a good thing. Said what I wanted to and annoyed a few of your ilk. My work is done here. wpww 14/88.”
Mr Bernard said the acronym wpww was understood to stand for White Power World Wide and 14/88 was a neo-Nazi term for “Heil Hitler”.
Jailing Moth this morning Sheriff William Summer said he had “peddled hatred in his vile abuse.” He said in his opinion there was no alternative to custody.