Overview

• CCTV and mobile footage showed Edmund Fowler unloading caged rats and hurling racial insults at worshippers entering the Grand Mosque on four occasions between May and June
• Sheffield Magistrates’ Court handed Fowler an 18-week prison term suspended for 18 months, imposed mosque exclusion and city area bans, and ordered 15 rehabilitation activity days
• A victim impact statement from the mosque manager said congregants are now too scared to attend services following the harassment
• Fowler’s defence suggested a possible mental breakdown linked to his responsibilities caring for a wife with breast cancer, but he provided no clear motive
• The case has highlighted a rise in Islamophobic attacks and prompted debate over the effectiveness of suspended sentences for religiously aggravated crimes