A roofer who admitted posting an offensive image which went viral online has been ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work in the community.
Online troll Jordan McGhie mocked the murder of George Floyd in a stunt with a friend, which prompted a furious backlash.
McGhie was sentenced to unpaid work for the crime in 2021 but was back in court on Monday to admit he had failed to carry out the majority of the 200 hours work imposed.
Solicitor Jane Caird, defending, said: “He has expressed to me his shame that he has not been able to complete this order.
“He buried his head in the sand and didn’t take it as seriously as he should have.
“He is accepting now that he didn’t give it due priority and would do anything now to avoid custody.”
Sheriff Gregor Murray, at Dundee Sheriff Court, wrote off the hours of work McGhie had completed and imposed a new 200-hour order.
Sick post
McGhie sparked outrage by posing for a picture kneeling on his friend’s neck in the days after Mr Floyd was murdered in the same manner by an American police officer.
It was labelled “George floyd challenge 2020” and was said to be a reaction to a social media trend at the time.
The court was told McGhie almost lost his job and had been forced to flee from his home after the image went viral and caused a furious public reaction.
Solicitor Catriona Clark, defending, told the court: “This was an act of drunken gross stupidity on his part.”
Several people called the police to report the image of McGhie posing with his friend after it appeared on a Facebook news feed.
McGhie admitted acting in a racially aggravated manner by sending an offensive and racist image from his friend’s house in Fife on June 2 2020.
He admitted breaching the 2003 Communications Act by posting an image on social media which was “grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or of menacing character.”
Previous conviction
The image was posted a week after the death of Mr Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a global protest under the Black Lives Matter banner.
Police officer Derek Chauvin, who was filmed kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck for nine minutes 29 seconds as he pleaded to be released, was found guilty of his murder.
McGhie, 29, of Cupar, has a previous convictions for assault to injury and for a racist offence in 2011.
He was 17 when he subjected a 13-year-old boy to a tirade of drunken abuse on a bus traveling between St Andrews and Cupar.
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