Two teenagers are facing jail after they made abusive comments about a judge and glorified a murderer on Facebook.

Damien Parker-Stokes, 19, praised killer Ryan Sheppard, and a 17-year-old who cannot be identified, wrote abuse about the judge on the social network.

The pair were found guilty of a serious contempt of court, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and Mr Justice Ouseley heard at London's High Court today.



The committal hearing follows the illegal taking of photos at the Bristol Crown Court sentencing of Sheppard, their friend, in August 2014, and the uploading of the images on Facebook.

Ben Watson, for Solicitor General Robert Buckland, said the pictures were accompanied by comments which "vilified" the judicial process and "glorified" Sheppard, who beat 35-year-old engineer Mark Roberts to death in an "unprovoked, sustained and brutal" attack in Weston-super-Mare in October 2013.

Mr Roberts, who lived with his fiancee and her two children, had spent the evening with friends at a social club.

PA Ryan Sheppard who has been jailed for life at Bristol Crown Court after he beat an engineer to death in an unprovoked attack filmed on his friend's mobile phone
Ryan Sheppard was 17 when he beat an engineer to death

Sheppard, who was 17 at the time of the crime and pleaded guilty, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years and three months.

Mr Watson said the contempt was serious primarily because of the nature of the proceedings - but also because it showed the increasing difficulty faced by the criminal courts relating to the widespread access to mobile phones with cameras and the ability to upload images speedily onto the internet.

"These photos have considerable potential for the disruption of criminal proceedings by the use of social media."


The 17-year-old and Parker-Stokes maintain that their conduct did not amount to contempt of court, which carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment.
When interviewed, both had denied knowing that photography in court was prohibited.
Mr Watson said that both had extensive criminal records.

The 17-year-old had nine convictions for 16 offences, including four offences relating to police, courts or prisons, while Parker-Stokes had 21 convictions for 54 offences, including 27 relating to police, courts or prisons.
The judges are expected to reserve their decision to a later date.