By Angela Ferguson

Copyright bbc

O’Neill was also convicted of failing to surrender after he did not attend court for a trial om 12 August last year.

The trial at Manchester Magistrates’ Court, which magistrates ruled could go ahead without him, heard O’Neill had also called Liverpool fans “vermin”.

Other posts he made in October 2022 including a suggestion that some Liverpool fans were still alive in body bags the next day.

In evidence given at the trial, Hillsborough survivor Marco Catena, 60, from Prenton, Wirral, said O’Neill’s comment was the “most evil Hillsborough-related comment ever”.

“The venom in the messages. I can’t understand it,” he added.

Mr Catena told the court he experienced suicidal thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks after the disaster, and O’Neill’s comments had badly affected his mental health.

Excerpts from a police interview were also heard during the trial, in which O’Neill admitted posting the messages.

He told police: “Yes that was me, I don’t dispute anything.”

O’Neill admitted his comments were “very distasteful” and said he “shouldn’t have got involved”.