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Far-right blogger guilty of antisemitic abuse campaign against Jewish MP
The jury deliberated for just 75 minutes before reaching their verdict
December 7, 2016 16:29
The jury deliberated for just 75 minutes before reaching their verdict
December 7, 2016 16:29A far-right blogger has been convicted of targeting Labour MP Luciana Berger with antisemitic hatred.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine was found guilty of the racially aggravated harassment of the Jewish politician at the Old Bailey this afternoon.
The jury deliberated for just 75 minutes before reaching their verdict.
Bonehill-Paine, 24, had posted five "hateful and insulting” articles about Ms Berger in which he branded her "a rodent", a "money grabber" and "evil".
The jury were not told that Bonehill-Paine had been sentenced to three years in prison in December 2015 for inciting racial hatred against Jews by organising a neo-Nazi march in Golders Green.
He had been found guilty of inciting racial hatred in a flyer featuring a picture of Auschwitz saying the planned rally would be "a gas".
The Community Security Trust said they welcomed Bonehill-Hill Paine's conviction today.
A CST spokesman said: "We worked closely with Luciana Berger throughout Bonehill-Paine's campaign of antisemitism and we applaud her courage in reporting his abuse and giving evidence against him.
"This conviction sends a strong signal that online hate will be prosecuted when it breaks the law and we hope it sends a signal to the police and CPS to pursue others who use the Internet to spread vile hatred."
During the three day trial Bonehill-Paine remained silent but waved to supporters including known far-right sympathisers in the public gallery. As he was led away, he made a two-fingered victory sign to a supporter.
He is expected to be sentenced tomorrow and faces a maximum seven-year jail sentence.
His conviction comes days after neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, 53, was handed a whole life term at the same court for the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
Earlier this year, 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".
In his first email of July 6, he told Ms Berger: "Justice for Joshua Bonehill-Paine will be sweet, he has friends everywhere. Watch your back Jewish scum, regards your friend the Nazi."
He then followed it up two days later with "You will get it like Jo Cox did, you better watch your back Jewish scum" just as Ms Berger was leaving her office in the early evening.
Nimmo was previously jailed in 2014 for eight weeks for sending abusive messages on Twitter to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez and Walthamstow Labour MP Stella Creasy.
