Man jailed for making death threats to mosques days after Manchester synagogue attack

A 21-year-old man who targeted two mosques with death threats in the aftermath of a lethal attack on a Manchester synagogue has been sentenced to more than two years in prison, prosecutors have announced.

Gabriel Levy, of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, admitted making threats to kill and was jailed for 28 months at Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Levy placed an anonymous telephone call to the Al-Sunnah Mosque in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, on the afternoon of 4 October 2025. He told the individual who answered: "I’m going to come to your mosque and kill you".

Subsequent investigations revealed that Levy had also phoned the Iqra Mosque in Manchester that same afternoon, telling a member of staff: "I am going to kill you Muslim."

Following his arrest, Levy, who is Jewish, told police officers that he made the calls in response to the attack on a Manchester synagogue two days earlier. A CPS spokesman noted that further examination of his mobile phone uncovered concerning messages containing hate speech alongside Islamophobic and racist language.

The threats followed an attack on 2 October at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall, which occurred on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism.

During that incident, 35-year-old Jihad Al-Shamie drove his 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 lost their lives during the assault. Melvin Cravitz, 66, died from multiple knife wounds inflicted by Al-Shamie. Adrian Daulby, 53, died after sustaining a single gunshot wound to the chest fired by an armed police officer deployed to the scene.

Senior crown prosecutor Aamir Sajad said: "No one has the right to make other people feel like their life is at risk just for doing their job.

"Gabriel 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.

"He claimed that he had no real intention of causing any harm – but this 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, and we are grateful to the victims in this case 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."