A PETROL bomber who threw a Molotov cocktail at a mosque has been put behind bars.
Thomas Conington was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow this morning after pleading guilty to torching Edinburgh's Central Mosque last year.
On September 18, 2016, Conington threw a petrol-filled glass bottle at the place of worship on Potterrow, around 2am.
It smashed and burst in to flames on the steps of the mosque, setting fire to the front door.
The 29-year-old had approached the same mosque a month before the incident but was refused entry for being heavily intoxicated.
He was arrested for being aggressive and racially abusive at the mosque, and was also convicted of making offensive and sectarian remarks towards a security guard at a local supermarket.
He was handed an Order of Lifelong Restriction, and will serve a minimum punishment of three years and nine months in jail.
Speaking following sentencing today, Andrew Richardson, Procurator Fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said:
“Everyone has the right to live free from violence, threats, intimidation or the fear of harassment or abuse stemming from the prejudice of another person.
“To be targeted because of race, colour or faith is totally unacceptable.
“Hopefully the conviction and sentencing of Thomas Conington will send a strong message to those who engage in this abhorrent behaviour that they will face the full force of the law.
“We are determined to work alongside colleagues in the criminal justice system to do all in our power to prevent these crimes and to bring those who commit them to justice.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here