Gabriel Levy jailed 28 months for death threats to Manchester mosques

A 21-year-old from Wakefield admitted threatening to kill staff at two Manchester mosques days after a fatal attack on a local synagogue.

Wakefield man sentenced for Islamophobic death threats to Manchester mosques

Gabriel Levy, 21, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has been jailed for 28 months after admitting he threatened to kill staff at two Manchester mosques in the immediate aftermath of a lethal attack on a local synagogue, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced. The Independent reports that Levy was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday.

On the afternoon of 4 October 2025, Levy placed an anonymous telephone call to the Al-Sunnah Mosque in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, telling the person who answered: "I'm going to come to your mosque and kill you." Investigators subsequently established that he had also called the Iqra Mosque in Manchester the same afternoon, telling a member of staff: "I am going to kill you Muslim."

Following his arrest, Levy, who is Jewish, told police the calls were made in response to a violent attack on a Manchester synagogue two days earlier. Examination of his mobile phone revealed messages containing hate speech alongside Islamophobic and racist language, the CPS said.

The threats came in the wake of an assault on 2 October at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, which took place on Yom Kippur. During that attack, 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie drove a vehicle into the synagogue gates and launched a knife attack while wearing a fake suicide belt, before being shot dead by armed officers. Two worshippers were killed: Melvin Cravitz, 66, died from multiple knife wounds, and Adrian Daulby, 53, died after sustaining a gunshot wound to the chest from an armed police officer.

Senior crown prosecutor Aamir Sajad said Levy "gave no thought to who was at the other end of the phone when he recklessly called two mosques to make these terrifying threats." Sajad added that Levy's claim to have had no real intention of causing harm "means nothing to those on the receiving end of these types of illegal and intimidating communications."

"Death threats in any form have a severe impact on those who receive them," Sajad said, noting the CPS was grateful to the victims for coming forward. "Today's sentencing shows that threats to kill and Islamophobic hate crime will always be treated extremely seriously by the CPS and we will take swift and decisive action when seeking these convictions."

Source: The Independent