EDL Man Jailed For Attempted Mosque Arson

John Parkin

An EDL activist has been jailed after attempting to set fire to a Rhyl mosque following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.

John Parkin, from Towyn, North Wales was jailed for 18 months at Mold Crown Court after he admitted threatening to burn down the mosque and a charge of religiously aggravated disorderly behaviour in May.

The would be arsonist was also handed an indefinite criminal anti-social behaviour order banning him from every mosque in the country.

This isn’t the first time Parkin has threatened the Muslim community in Rhyl. In January 2012 Parkin was found guilty after he threatened to blow up a mosque in the town.

Parkin was jailed for 10 months for being in breach of an earlier suspended sentence, and two charges of religiously aggravated public order offences .

He was reported to the police after one witness overheard him say “I have got guns. I want to shoot Muslims in the head.” He also spoke about blowing up the local mosque.

After his arrest he told police “Muslims are taking over the country. They need to go back to their own country.”

He later told police: “I am a racist. I hate Muslims”, adding that he was a member of the English Defence League.

The offences put him in breach of a 52 week suspended sentence, which he received following an attack on his then partner.

Parkin was also a member of The Combined Ex Forces (CXF) an EDL splinter group and told anyone who was prepared to listen that he was an ex serviceman who had served in Bosnia and Iraq. But, in reality Parkin had never left the country or seen active service after he was thrown out of the army in disgrace after an incident with drugs.