Men are jailed for grave attack

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Two men who caused £30,000 damage to Jewish gravestones at a Derby cemetery have both been jailed for three years.

Daniel Coleman, 23, from Thorndyke Avenue, Alvaston, and Richard Fallows, 23, of St Thomas Road, Derby, had both admitted criminal damage.

The men were cleared of a charge of religiously-aggravated criminal damage, which they had both denied, at a trial at Derby Crown Court in February.

Thirty-six Jewish gravestones were damaged in the attack in March 2006.

'Public outcry'

The trial at Derby Crown Court had heard Coleman had an "unhealthy interest" in Hitler and the Nazis.

DVDs of far right films were found along with books about the SS and Hitler during police searches of Coleman's home, the court had heard.

The pair both denied any anti-Semitic motivation.

Mr Coleman said the books and DVDs were part of his studies for a university course.

In sentencing, Judge Andrew Hamilton, said: "Anything less than a substantial prison sentence and there would be a public outcry.

"What you did on this night was the most serious desecration of a cemetery."