A hate-filled Facebook user posted racist abuse and insults – and called for supporters to “target” a Grimsby mosque because it “wants burning”.

Matthew Tyson claimed the mosque had got his “blood boiling”, a court heard. The father-of-two’s comments were made in the days following the horrific murder of soldier Lee Rigby, in London.

Tyson, 23, insisted he and others were not racists but “patriotic racists”, claiming he had “always hated” the people he was writing about – and that this was a chance for him and others to get their town “heard”. The comments were spotted by the police and he ended up in court – where he said: “I have never felt such an idiot in my life.”

Tyson, of Rosemary Avenue, Grimsby, admitted sending an offensive or menacing message between May 22 and 25 – just days before Grimsby’s mosque was set on fire. In the wake of that attack, the police issued warnings to people using social networking websites that they were being monitored.

Rebecca Dolby, prosecuting, told Grimsby magistrates that Tyson posted messages on a Facebook forum shortly after Drummer Rigby was attacked by two men near the Royal Artillery Barracks, in Woolwich, on May 22. Tyson’s comments included: “What if we do beat **** out of them? It’s all of us people on this page that gets our town and names heard and show the ******* what true British is. I will show them how much us Brits want the scumbags out.”

The comments included a reference to the Grimsby Islamic Cultural Centre, on Weelsby Road, Grimsby. It read: “Target that place for start. A British church into a mosque. Now that’s got my blood boiling.” This was a reference to the fact that the mosque was on the site of the former Weelsby Road Methodist Church, said Miss Dolby. Tyson also wrote: “That’s all they say to me too, mate – you racist. No, we ain’t racist. We’re patriotic racists. The place needs burning. I’ll go under cover down Weelsby mosque. LMAO.”

Tyson later told police he used strong words because he “wanted to express” himself but he claimed he did not want anyone to “go out and do anything”. He claimed: “I’m not a racist” but insisted he was glad he had expressed his feelings. “I was angry,” he said. He was not a member of the English Defence League but was “against Muslim extremists”, he added.

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The fire that destroyed an Islamic community centre in Muswell Hill last week was the result of arson, police have confirmed.

Fire crews were called to the blaze at the the Bravanese Centre in Coppetts Road – which houses the Somali Bravanese Welfare Association – in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Officers investigating the scene discovered the letters “EDL” (the initials of the far-right anti-Islam group, the English Defence League) had been sprayed on the side of the centre. It is feared the fire was in retaliation for murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last month.

Counter-terrorism police investigating the fire have been treating it “suspicious” but today Borough Commander Adrian Usher confirmed that the inferno was the result of an arson attack.

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