Teen jailed for sending horrific racist abuse to Marcus Rashford after Euro 2020 defeat

A teenager has been jailed for six weeks for sending a racist tweet to Marcus Rashford following England’s Euro 2020 defeat.

Justin Lee Price, nineteen, sent out the abusive message to the Manchester United star as he watched the final from his home in Worcester, Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court heard this week.

His tweet was directed at Rashford, who missed a penalty during the shoot-out to Italy at Wembley last summer.

According to a CPS official, the tweet, which he wrote when he was eighteen, read: “@SzzOGz @MarcusRashford YOU ******* STUPID ****** MISSING A FREE PEN MY DEAD NAN COULD HAVE SCORED THAT”.

The teenager initially denied the charges during a police interview, and even changed his name on Twitter to avoid being caught. 

However, he later admitted to sending the tweets when he was questioned by police for a second time. 

Read More: Two men arrested for online racist abuse of Marcus Rashford and other England players

Price pleaded guilty to sending a grossly offensive message on a public communications network, and was jailed for six weeks at Kidderminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday, March 30th.

The teenager’s solicitor said his client felt ‘ashamed and embarrassed’ by the tweets, and noted how he lived with his single-parent mother and only worked two days a week, leaving him with a lot of free time on his hands.

According to Birmingham Live, the solicitor said: “He [Price] spends a lot of time online, gaming, from his bedroom in online groups. On the night this offence took place he was with that online group, but he accepts the responsibility is his. He knows it was wrong and regretted it as soon as it was sent.”

He added that Price used the N-word in the tweet because ‘he listens to a lot of rap music where the word is commonly used’, saying: “It wasn’t uncommon for him to hear that [in rap music] when it’s not used as a racist word, so it was normalised for him.

“He didn’t understand the use of that word and didn’t intend it as a hate crime.”

His solicitor also claims the public media coverage of the incident left the teenager traumatised, stating: “He lost weight and showed signs of mild depression – this whole episode has been detrimental to his mental health.”

Rept0n1x / Wikimedia Commons

District Judge Ian Strongman, sentencing, acknowledged how ’emotionally charged’ fans were after England’s defeat, but said it was no excuse for what Price did.

He said: “At first you denied it, but after talking with your mum, you had second thoughts, but you must have realised the writing was on the wall because you were linked to that tweet.

“The electronic age has brought many benefits with social media, but unfortunately some people take the view that it’s a licence to send abusive messages, especially to high profile people while hiding behind a social media profile, saying things they’d never say in person to them.”

Players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were all targeted with torrents of racist abuse on social media after missing their penalties in England’s defeat to Italy in the Euros 2020 final.