A FORMER Stourport councillor and mayor has been ordered to do unpaid work after tweeting racist comments.
Gary Talbot resigned from Stourport Town Council after being suspended from the Wyre Forest Conservatives earlier this year when his offending came to light.
The 60-year-old appeared at Worcester Magistrates Court admitting three charges of sending by public communication network an offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message.
The court heard the messages were sent on December 30, 2019, August 17, 2021 and April 11 this year.
In the first tweet, the retired postman made comments about Islam.
In another post, from 2019, Talbot made another racist comment about Islam.
The third charge related to a response made by Talbot to a tweet about the sister of murdered primary school teacher Sabina Nessa.
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Speaking to the Kidderminster Shuttle after his resignation earlier this year, Mr Talbot said: "I'm not Islamophobic - I can get on with everybody.
"I moved myself into a situation where I made one or two silly comments.
"I'm paying the penalty for it."
Sumreen Afsar, prosecuting, said the tweets were a "hate crime" asking for the magistrates to uplift any sentence Talbot was given to reflect it being a "racially aggravated offence".
Dean Johnson, chairman of the magistrates bench, told Talbot the offences were so serious they had crossed the community order threshold.
Talbot, of Bewdley Road, Stourport, was given a one-year order, which requires him to complete 100 hours unpaid work in that period.
'Gary Talbot's comments have no place in society' police inspector says
Talbot also has to pay £135 costs and £95 victim surcharge, the £230 total to be paid in full within 28 days.
Katherine Maynereid defended Talbot during the case which was heard at the court on Tuesday, (October 4).
In April Inspector Dave King, from West Mercia Police said: "Comments like this have absolutely no place in society.
"As a force we take a hard stand against any sort of discrimination and this includes online abuse."
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