Viral meme about 'two-tier' policing omits that one person was a minor

Context

In the wake of the riots sweeping across the U.K. following the fatal stabbings of three young girls in Southport, a meme on supposed two-tier policing has gone viral on social media. This meme was recently reshared by X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, who, on August 6, reposted a comment containing the meme with the caption: "Is this accurate @CommunityNotes?"

The meme shows three mugshots with text written above and below each person with details of their crimes. From left to right, the text states that the first man was sentenced to 15 weeks in prison for posting a racist comment on Facebook, the second man was sentenced to 24 months in prison for selling anti-immigration stickers, and the third was sentenced to 180 hours of community service with no prison time for repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl. The first two men are white, while the third is Asian, with the meme implying that the justice system is more lenient towards Asians who commit serious crimes than white people.

Viral meme implying that the U.K. justice system is more lenient towards minorities who commit crimes than towards white people. (Source: X/Screenshot)

The meme – and similar versions of it – has been posted numerous times across various social media platforms like X, Reddit, and Facebook, among others, since at least March 2024.  

Two-tier policing refers to a myth that the U.K. police are lenient on minority groups and immigrants who commit crimes while being heavy-handed with white British people. It has emerged in recent years due to the policing failures in handling Asian grooming gangs in Rochdale and false narratives comparing how the police handled Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and recently pro-Palestine protests with how they've dealt with far-right protests. It has gained traction recently through influential figures such as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, who spread it to thousands of followers on social media.

The above viral meme contains facts that are accurate but presents them in a misleading manner by omitting important contextual information. Namely, the man on the far right of the meme was 15 years old at the time of his crimes, which is why he was given a lesser sentence. The other two adults sentenced alongside Al Soami received a combined 36.5 years in prison. 

What we found

The man on the right side of the meme was one of four attackers convicted of grooming and raping a 13-year-old girl in Newcastle. The man is a 21-year-old named Hamoud Al Soaimi, who participated in the sexual abuse of the victim alongside Omar Badreddin (26), Mohamed Badreddin (23), and Huzaefa Aleboud (23). 

The group abused the girl between August 2018 and April 2019 by using drugs, alcohol, and threats of violence to repeatedly sexually abuse her. Al Soaimi was 15 at the time, and he was found to have been heard saying it was "his turn" to rape the victim by a witness and to have sexually assaulted another 12-year-old girl to copy the behavior of the older Badreddin brothers. 

The elder men were convicted on charges of rape, assault by penetration, and assault causing actual bodily harm, earning prison sentences that, when combined, amount to 36.5 years in prison. The highest sentence was 18 years, and the lowest was 5.5 years. All are required to sign the sex offenders' register for life. 

Al Soaimi was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and one assault by penetration. He was not found to have repeatedly raped the 12-year-old victim. He was initially given a two-year jail sentence, but this was suspended, and he was handed 180 hours of community service because he was 15 at the time of the assault. He is also required to sign onto the sex offenders' register for 10 years. Those who commit crimes as minors, particularly under the age of 16, are subjected to different sentencing standards as they are deemed less criminally responsible than adults due to their immaturity. 

In comparison, the two other men in the meme were both adults at the time they committed their offenses. The man on the left is Shaun Tuck, a 37-year-old man from Liverpool who was sentenced to 15 weeks in jail for posting racist abuse about a fellow Everton supporter on the football club's official Facebook page in August 2023. He was also handed a six-year ban from attending football fixtures. 

The middle man is Samuel Melia, a 34-year-old from Pudsey in West Yorkshire, who was sentenced to two years in prison after he was found guilty of inciting racial hatred and of encouraging racially aggravated criminal damage. This was after a number of stickering incidents in which he created stickers with ethnic slurs, anti-immigrant messages, and antisemitic messages and displayed them in public places. 

The verdict

A viral meme lending credence to the "two-tier policing" myth claims that an Asian man was sentenced to 180 hours of community service and no jail time for repeatedly raping a 12-year-old while two white men were sentenced to 15 weeks and 24 months in jail for posting racist comments on Facebook and selling anti-immigration stickers. The meme omits that he was 15 at the time of his crimes, and those who commit crimes as minors are subjected to different sentencing standards based on their development and immaturity at the time. The adults he committed sexual offenses with were given jail sentences that add up to a combined 36.5 years. We have, therefore, rated this claim misleading.