Man guilty of harassing Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger

A man has been found guilty of the racially-aggravated harassment of an MP after sending anti-Semitic rants.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 24, wrote five hate-filled blogs harassing Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger in 2014, a jury at the Old Bailey was told.

Ms Berger told the court she “felt sick” and “very much under attack”.

Bonehill-Paine, of Yeovil, Somerset, posted the articles after the jailing of fellow far-right extremist Garron Helm in October the same year.

Helm, then 21, from Merseyside, had admitted sending a picture on Twitter depicting Ms Berger, 35, with a holocaust-era Star of David on her forehead and the hashtag “Hitler was right”.

Over the next four months, Bonehill-Paine posted articles online calling her “an evil money-grabber” and claiming the number of Jewish Labour MPs was a “problem”.

Giving evidence, Ms Berger said she feared for her safety because “what happens online does not always stay online”.

The MP said: “It’s fair to say I was the most concerned I have ever been about my personal safety since I was elected.”

Bonehill-Paine’s conviction comes after neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, 53, was handed a whole life term at the same court for the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.

In July, another internet troll, John Nimmo, 28, from South Shields, was convicted of making a death threat against Ms Berger by saying she would “get it like Jo Cox”.

During his trial, Bonehill-Paine was awaiting sentence for making claims on Twitter that several people were paedophiles.

He is currently serving three years and four months in jail over a conviction in December last year for posting anti-Semitic material ahead of a planned neo-Nazi rally in Golders Green – home to many London-based Jews.

Mr Justice Spencer said he would adjourn sentencing to consider an application for a criminal behaviour order.

The maximum sentence for the racially aggravated offence is seven years.

 

source  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-38242100

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