War veteran banned from coaching after calling Southport killer a ‘creature’ | UK | News

An Iraq War veteran says he was prevented from coaching his daughter’s youth football team after describing the Southport child killer as a “creature” in a social media video, despite being cleared in court of inciting racial hatred.

Jamie Michael, 47, from Penygraig in South Wales, posted a 12-minute Facebook video after Axel Rudakubana attacked a Taylor Swift-themed children’s dance class in Southport on July 29 last year. The former Royal Marine was later charged with using inflammatory language, but it took just 17 minutes for jurors at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court to unanimously acquit him in February.

Although Michael avoided conviction, he said the negative effects of the case remain.

Documents related to his lawsuit against his local government say he used “dehumanizing language,” referring to Rudakubana as a “creature.”

The board argued this contributed to a “proven” safeguarding concern and ultimately led the FA to ban him from volunteering with his daughter’s team.

Rudakubana was sentenced to at least 52 years in prison for the murders of six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.

In a Facebook post seen thousands of times, Michael expressed anger over the killings and unrest across the country, admitting that his phrasing was “clumsy.”

Michael said he was shocked to learn less than two weeks after his acquittal that he was no longer considered fit to work with children.

“It’s mind-blowing,” he told the Telegraph. “The judge called Rudakubana a devil. But calling him a ‘creature’ makes me unfit to coach children? If that makes me a danger to children, then something is very wrong.”

The Free Expression League, which is funding his defence, is currently backing his civil claim for £25,000 in compensation.

Its chairman, Lord Young, criticized the safeguarding board, questioning why “the reputation of a child murderer” was given priority over that of a former soldier.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board said it took its responsibilities “very seriously” but declined to comment further.

Michael emphasized that he came out publicly so that people in his community would not mistakenly assume he posed a risk to children, that he was not a racist and that his criticism was only directed at violent criminals.