Rio Ferdinand says Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid summed up this season for Manchester United in comments made off-air duties with BT Sport.
01.03.2022 - 17:59 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A football fan who sent racist abuse to former England defender Rio Ferdinand has been handed a 12-week suspended sentence.
Robert Whippe, 64, admitted to directing two racist tweets at Mr Ferdinand following the Euro 2020 final.
The judge was told that Mr Ferdinand found the tweets, which featured a monkey and banana emoji, "grossly offensive" and having to explain them to his children "deeply upsetting".
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The court hear how the tweets were sent on the morning of July 8, following England's match against Denmark, and on July 11, after England lost to Italy in a penalty shootout.
Police were able to trace Whippe's tweets by using automatic software designed to scrub through social media for possible abuse, the judge was told.
When interviewed by Hertfordshire Police, Whippe admitted posting the tweets but initially denied any racist intent - he claimed they were only "a joke" and was not aware of their racist connotations, the court heard.
During an interview with a probation officer, Whippe initially claimed he had used the emojis accidentally but did a "U-turn" and accepted that was not true.
The court heard how he told the officer: "I feel awful about what I have done."
Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram told Whippe his claims were “nonsense” as he handed him a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.
He said: “Everyone is entitled to disagree and respectfully disagree with the views of those who are put in those positions. But what you did was not only disagreed but you used racist language, racist language through those symbols and emojis.
“In interview you said it was a joke, you didn’t realise it was racist – nonsense. Of course you realised it was racist. Those two symbols are often used by
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