Furious man rang two mosques to make death threats and said he was 'going to kill them'
It came just days after attack on a nearby synagogue
A furious man rang two mosques just minutes apart and made threats to kill its workers and worshippers.
Gabriel Levy made the calls from his home in Wakefield to the two religious centres in Manchester.
The 21-year-old, who has been held on remand at HMP Leeds, admitted two counts of making threats to kill and was jailed at Leeds Crown Court today.
The court heard that Levy, who is Jewish, made the call to the mosque at at 3.15pm on October 4 last year, and told the call handler: “I’m going to come to your mosque and kill you.”
He ended the call a few seconds later, but the handler was left nervous, given there had been a fatal attack on a synagogue in Manchester two days before in which three people died and others left seriously injured.
Three minutes later, Levy rang another mosque and repeated his threat to the imam who answered the phone, prosecutor Benjamin Bell said.
The call was traced and he was arrested at 10pm that night from his home on Bowman Street in the Agbrigg area of Wakefield.
He apologised and said he was angry but had no intention of carrying out the threats. He said he himself had been subjected to abuse and threats.
Levy, who has no previous convictions, said he “wished he could take back what he said”.
Mitigating, Ian Howard said that Levy “expressed his apologies” to those he spoke with on the phone.
Mr Howard said: “It was entirely flawed thinking and he has strived to seek to address that.”
He said that a rabbi was in attendance in court to offer support to Levy.
The judge, Recorder Guy Kearl KC told Levy, who appeared over a video link from HMP Leeds: “You embarked on a short campaign, threatening those who worked and prayed at mosques.
“It was intended to cause fear and trepidation.
“Your offending took place at a time of heightened community tensions. It was religiously motivated.
“You were playing on the fear of those likely to be affected.”
He said that a custodial sentence was “unavoidable”, handing him 28 months.