A ST AUSTELL man sent grossly offensive pictures to an Islamic community centre in Cornwall after becoming enraged by videos of beheadings and mass murders carried out by Islamic State terrorists.
Eric King, 60, of Wheal Eliza Close, pleaded guilty to sending an indecent or grossly offensive letter to Tipu Choudhury, general secretary of the Cornwall Islamic Community Centre at Carnon Downs, and sending two indecent or grossly offensive messages to the centre via its Facebook page.
Alison May for the CPS said Mr Choudhury had received an envelope through the post containing images of the prophet Mohammed having intercourse with a pig, and another of a naked woman squatting on an Islamic State flag with the letters" IS" scrawled across her buttocks.
Both photographs, which King had printed out from his mobile phone at a local store, were accompanied by offensive slogans and smeared with his dog's excrement.
The court heard that King felt the conversion of Quenchwell Methodist Chapel into the Islamic centre in 2009 was "sacrilege to our god" and had become angry.
His anger increased after watching online videos showing mass murders and beheadings carried out by extremists in Iraq and Syria.
King, who takes medication for a number of ailments including anger issues, took to social media site Facebook where he posted messages on the centre's page telling members to "get out of the country" and referring to Islam as "evil".
In a statement read out by his solicitor Paul Gallagher, King said he "was and has always been a Christian," and that other religions did not bother him "unless they cross a line and preach hatred against Christianity as Muslims have started to do."
Mr Gallagher said his client felt as though he "had no voice" and Facebook allowed him "the opportunity to say he did not like what they [the Islamic Centre] had done."
But he added that in future King, who has a previous conviction for assaulting a police officer and for harassment, intended to limit his comments to his own Facebook page.
Magistrates adjourned King's case until December 16 pending a full probation report.
He was given bail on the condition that he not use any social networking site to pass abusive, threatening or insulting messages, that he not contact anyone associated with the community centre, nor attend the centre.
Speaking to the Cornish Guardian, Mr Choudhury said incidents of abusive mail sent to the centre were extremely rare.
"I'm the one who goes through the post," he said. "We've had these sorts of envelopes before, but not often thank goodness."
He explained that offensive letters were usually ignored, but on this occasion the centre felt it appropriate to alert the authorities.
"We have a committee and we try to deal with things as quietly as possible, otherwise it puts people on edge," he said. "But because Mr King lives nearby we didn't know what he might do, so it was quite worrying.
"I also understand that he had no regrets or remorse about what he did, but unfortunately some people have mindsets like that and there's nothing you can do."
