A SWANSEA University student who was jailed for posting racist tweets about a footballer who had collapsed during a match will be allowed to finish his degree.
Third year biology student Liam Stacey, 21, remains suspended for the rest of the academic year and is banned from campus.
But he can sit his final exams at another venue next year as an external candidate and will graduate in absentia if he passes.
A university spokesperson said at the end of a disciplinary: “Swansea University deplores racism and has policies in place to ensure equality for staff and students.
“We are mindful that he has been given a prison sentence, and therefore has already paid a price for his actions.
“He has expressed genuine remorse and we are satisfied that he understands that his behaviour was unacceptable, and damaging to the University.
“Given the sanctions he has already faced and the contrition he has shown, and that he is a final year student, we have taken the exceptional decision to allow him to sit his exams.”
Stacey was jailed for 56 days for his comments on Twitter about Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba.
They came after 23-year-old Muamba collapsed during the FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, March 17, after suffering a cardiac arrest.
He admitted inciting racial hatred at Swansea Magistrates Court in March and was sent to prison.
Stacey lost an appeal against his sentence, claiming he had been punished enough.
He was released after serving half of his term and has remained at home in Pontypridd.
Stacey spoke for the first time on Tuesday in an interview with BBC Wales’ Week In Week Out programme.
He said he did not know why he made the remarks on Twitter, adding that it was a “stupid, massive, massive mistake and I’ve paid a big price for it”.
“What I struggle to get my head around was the week or two before I was just a normal kid getting on with my work in university, getting on with life, playing rugby with all my mates, then a week or two later I was just going to prison, everything had been turned upside down,” he said.
