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Men sentenced for damaging mosque in 'hate crime'

Leigh BoobyerSomerset
BBC The outside of a mosque. There is a sign above the door reading "Taunton central masjid and Islamic centre" in capital letters. Below the sign there are dark brown double doors with patterned glass panels. One of the doors is boarded up as the glass has been smashed.BBC
A glass panel on the door was smashed in the incident

Two men have been sentenced for damaging a mosque in a racially or religiously motivated incident.

Several windows at Taunton Central Mosque in Tower Lane, Somerset, were smashed on 6 September 2025 in what police described as a "hate crime".

Ashley Oliver, 35, of Bulford in Wiltshire, and Alan Galloway, 35, of East Reach in Taunton, were found guilty of carrying out racially or religiously motivated criminal damage on the mosque.

The pair were fined £180 each at Taunton Deane Magistrates' Court on Friday and received restraining orders banning them from being in the area around the mosque.

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Avon and Somerset Police Image shows the damage to a mosque window which has been smashed. Some of the glass has broken away from the window and the glass that remains has been cracked.Avon and Somerset Police
Avon and Somerset Police previously called the incident a "hate crime"

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