UK women convicted for tearing up holy Quran
Two women who tore up a copy of the holy Quran at an English football match convicted of religiously-aggravated offence.
Two British football fans have been convicted of tearing up a copy of the holy Quran and throwing the pieces in the air during a football match.
Julie Phillips, 50, ripped pages from the holy book and handed them out to fellow supporters to shred during offensive chanting, Birmingham Magistrates’ Court in central England heard.
Phillips and fellow Middlesbrough fan Gemma Parkin, 18, both from the northeast English town, were found guilty of a religiously-aggravated public order offence.
The incident happened during the second-tier English Championship 2-2 draw between hosts Birmingham City and visitors Middlesbrough at St Andrew’s stadium on December 7.
The two women were convicted of causing harassment, alarm or distress and fined.
They had both denied knowing that the book being torn apart was the holy Quran.
Parkin said she had been handed the book in Birmingham city centre and did not know what it was. Phillips claimed she was simply making confetti to throw in the air.
Passing sentence, magistrate Gordon Sayers said: “This was a very unpleasant offence and there was a degree of pre-planning involved.”
Sayers said Parkin was “well aware” of what she was doing and told Phillips: “We have seen very clear CCTV footage of you ripping up the Quran and you passing pages to a small group of other supporters.”
“We are satisfied that you were aware of what you were distributing,” he said.
“This behaviour was in a football stadium and was both abusive and insulting.”
Phillips was ordered to pay £730 ($1,230) and Parkin £620 ($1,043) in fines, court costs and victim surcharges.
A third Middlesbrough fan was fined £235 ($397) by magistrates in March for the same offence. He admitted being among around 20 supporters who were handed pages from the holy Quran.