Peter Allan Flanagan sentenced for displaying racist neon sign in Morningside

A Brisbane man has been jailed after he bought and displayed a neon sign he purchased off Temu with racist and anti-Semitic messaging.

A Queensland man has been jailed after he bought this neon sign on Temu.

A Brisbane man has been jailed after he bought a neon sign on Temu saying “white pride worldwide” and “death to Jews, Muslims and Africans.”

Brisbane Magistrates Court heard on Friday how Peter Allan Flanagan, 52, had displayed the sign outside his Morningside home on November 19.

Magistrate Ross Mack said Flanagan then yelled racial slurs including the n-word over his balcony and hit an officer in the face when police came to investigate the sign on December 11.

“This is the man they tell me has got a swastika tattooed on his back,” Mr Mack said.

“Now this may be a reflection of ignorance or perhaps he’s simply a moron, I don’t know.”

Defence lawyer Nicholas Schoenmaker said Flanagan’s letter of apology labelled his past self as “angry” and “racist”, but said he had had time to reflect while in custody.

Mr Schoenmaker said Flanagan had been diagnosed with cancer and now wanted to live a meaningful life.

“That’s a big card to play without a diagnosis,” Mr Mack commented.

Flanagan pleaded guilty on May 23 to serious racial and religious vilification, along with unlawful possession of a motor vehicle, serious assault of a police officer, obstruct police, wilful damage, public nuisance, unlawful possession of weapons, and contravening a direction or requirement of police.

The court heard Flanagan had been found in possession of a stolen Harley Davidson from a deceased estate in January.

Mr Schoenmaker said his client instructed the bike had been drug-related “collateral”, and that his client had returned it undamaged.

The court heard Flanagan had an 11-page criminal history, but Mr Schoenmaker submitted that he was “running out of steam” and his offending had de-escalated in recent years.

Mr Mack said he had to give Flanagan a sentence that denounced the “foul incomprehensible stupidity” of the sign and his other offending.

He sentenced Flanagan to 18 months in jail, with that head sentence attached to the motorcycle possession charge.

Flanagan received a concurrent six month sentence for the racial vilification.

His parole release date was set for June 15, 2025, and his 158 days in presentence custody were declared as time-served.

Originally published as Peter Allan Flanagan sentenced for displaying racist neon sign in Morningside