Brothers jailed for mocking judge
Daniel Sledden, 27, and his younger brother Samuel, 22, had their sentences increased after they mocked the judge for being lenient Police handout

Two brothers have been jailed for two years after mocking a judge on Facebook for giving them a lenient sentence. Daniel Sledden, 27, and his younger brother Samuel, 22, from Accrington, Lancashire had admitted to being concerned in the supply of cannabis from May to September 2014.

They were handed a suspended sentence for drug dealing, however almost immediately after leaving court, they made derisory comments about the judge on the networking site.

"Cannot believe my luck 2 year suspended sentance (sic) beats the 3 year jail yes pal! Beverly [sic] Lunt go suck my ****," Daniel wrote, just 40 minutes after escaping a jail term.

Samuel wrote: "What a day it's been Burnley crown court! Up ur **** aha nice 2 year suspended ..."

The messages were however, brought to the attention of Judge Beverley Lunt, who felt compelled to order the sentence to be reviewed in light of their obvious lack of remorse.

"The question I have to ask myself is this, if I had not known their real feelings at being in court would I have accepted their remorse and contrition, and suspended the sentence," she said. "And the answer is of course not. Each of the posts indicate they have not changed at all. They have not taken on board anything or learned any responsibility."

Daniel Sledden later apologised for his comments, turning to Facebook once again, this time to express remorse for his actions.

"I was very lucky not to be sent to prison and I was very stupid to have written what I did," he wrote. I want to say sorry to Judge Lunt and to anyone else who was upset or offended by my thoughtless post which I did not mean."

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