Dramatic CCTV footage captured the moment a thug threw a Molotov cocktail at a mosque.
Thomas Conington has been given a lifelong restriction order and was jailed for at least three years and nine months following the attack on Edinburgh’s Central Mosque.
The High Court in Glasgow heard the 29-year-old took the petrol bomb to the mosque in the early hours of September 18 last year.
The bottle smashed and burst into flames on the steps of the entrance, setting fire to the door, prosecutors said.
He was jailed at the court on Wednesday after admitting the offence.
It happened just a month after he approached the same mosque while drunk and became aggressive and racially abusive when he was refused entry, the Crown Office said.
Conington was also convicted of making racially offensive and sectarian remarks towards a security guard at a local supermarket.
Under the sentence, Conington will receive an order of lifelong restriction (OLR), with a minimum punishment part of three years and nine months in custody.
Under OLRs, once an offender is deemed safe to be released from custody, they will be subject to continuing risk assessments and will likely remain under close supervision for the rest of their life.
Speaking after the case, Andrew Richardson, procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said: ‘Everyone has the right to live free from violence, threats, intimidation or the fear of harassment or abuse stemming from the prejudice of another person.
‘To be targeted because of race, colour or faith is totally unacceptable.
‘Hopefully the conviction and sentencing of Thomas Conington will send a strong message to those who engage in this abhorrent behaviour that they will face the full force of the law.’
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