Man facing prison over Neil Lennon comments

Robert Rollie, 39, posted comments on the Facebook page “Neil Lennon should be sacked and jailed for racism” on 14 March, this year, including jibes about his hair.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard yesterday he wrote “ginger, f****** hate the c***” which was traced back to his own Facebook account and identified him to police.

Rollie, from Cumnock, Ayrshire, admitted posting messages of a threatening and abusive nature on the social networking site on 14 March this year.

The court was told that on 15 March, against the background of the “escalating climate of sectarian football related hostility and offending” following the Old Firm match on 3 March, a police taskforce reviewed social networking sites.

Depute fiscal Mark Allan told the court the police came across the Facebook page “Neil lennon should be sacked and jailed for racism”.

He said: “Having found this webpage the officers investigated further and identified that the now accused had made a comment on that page at 12:25am on 14 March which stated: ‘Sack the pr*** and send him back to Ireland to face the music’.”

“And, at 12:29am ‘ginger, f****** hate the c***, f****** shoot him’.

“It was identified by these police officers that this site was fully open to view to anyone with a Facebook account.

“The police made further inquiries and linked these comments to the Facebook page of the accused.”

The court was told that on 27 March, Rollie was taken to Ayr police office where he was interviewed.

Mr Allan added: “During that interview he confirmed that he had had access to Facebook using his mobile phone and laptop.”

Although he told police he had no recollection of posting the messages he accepted that they could only have been posted by him and that they appeared to be targeted at Neil Lennon.

Defence lawyer Kevin Brady told the court his client had never been to a football match before.

Sheriff Martin Jones QC deferred sentence on Rollie until next month for reports and released him on bail.