Ex-Man United apprentice not guilty of racial hatred on Facebook

The court heard that Mr Michael had been an apprentice with Manchester United, Oxford United and Cardiff City before joining the Royal Marines.

He served in Iraq in 2003 and later worked as private security in Iraq and Afghanistan before settling in Wales as a massage therapist.

Mr Michael, who was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer in 2014, denied being racist but admitted he had been “clumsy” with his choice of words when he recorded the video in the aftermath of the Southport attack.

“As a parent I felt gut wrenched. I wanted to get some kind of security measures in place for our children,” he told the court.

The court heard the video was reported to police by a member of staff from local Labour MS Buffy Williams’ office.

James Wilson, prosecuting, said Mr Michael’s tone in the video had been “unrelentingly negative” towards migrants.

But Adam King, defending, said it was “beyond obvious” the strong language did not refer to all migrants.

He added: “The overall tone and message is totally fair enough – do more to stop child murderers or similar from coming into the country, go to the police or politicians with practical ideas for how to protect children. These are not mad ideas.”