Muamba Twitter Rant Student Won't Be Freed

A student jailed for sending offensive messages on Twitter following footballer Fabrice Muamba's cardiac arrest has had his appeal against his sentence rejected.

Liam Stacey, 21, appealed after being sentenced on Tuesday to 56 days after he admitting inciting racial hatred.

Dismissing the appeal, Mr Justice Wyn Williams said that although there were no applicable sentencing guidelines the immediate prison sentence was justified.

The tweets were "extremely offensive" and "explicitly racist", he said, although he accepted that the tirade was out of character and that Stacey was "genuinely remorseful".

As the racist tweets were read out, Liam Stacey's mother wept in the public gallery.

Outlining Stacey's grounds for appeal his barrister Paul Hobson had told Swansea Crown Court "vile though his actions were he is not a vile person".

He added: "If there is such a thing as a short, sharp shock he has experienced that already."

The barrister spoke of the stigma that now surrounded Stacey and his family and said there was "abundant evidence of remorse for what he did that day".

Stacey triggered revulsion when shortly after the collapse of Bolton footballer Fabrice Muamba he tweeted "LOL (laugh out loud). F*** Muamba. He's dead!!!"

As the footballer fought for his life in hospital following his collapse during the FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur on March 17, Stacey's tweet provoked an angry response.

The 21-year-old responded to a stream of critical responses on the social networking site with a torrent of racist abuse.

Stacey sobbed in the dock throughout the appeal hearing. He admitted inciting racial hatred.

As a result of his actions, the third-year biology undergraduate is to be thrown off his course at Swansea University, meaning he will not now complete his finals in the summer.