This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-38249351
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Man jailed for harassing Labour MP Luciana Berger | Man jailed for harassing Labour MP Luciana Berger |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| A man who subjected a Jewish MP to an online campaign of anti-Semitic abuse has been jailed for two years. | A man who subjected a Jewish MP to an online campaign of anti-Semitic abuse has been jailed for two years. |
| Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 24, wrote five hate-filled blogs about Luciana Berger in 2014. | |
| Speaking earlier, the Liverpool Wavertree MP said she felt "unsafe" and was concerned that the far right is on the rise in the UK. | |
| Bonehill-Paine was convicted of racially aggravated harassment at the Old Bailey on Wednesday. | |
| 'Gravely oppressive' | |
| The judge told Bonehill-Paine he was responsible for a "cruel campaign of vile racist abuse" on his "obnoxious" online newspaper. | |
| "This was gravely oppressive racially-aggravated harassment of the worst kind," Mr Justice Spencer said. | |
| Speaking to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire before the sentencing, Ms Berger said: "We're seeing it across Europe but we're seeing it in our country as well." | |
| Government figures, she said, showed an increase in the number of people coming from a right-wing extremist ideology being referred to the government's counter-terrorism strategy Prevent programme. | Government figures, she said, showed an increase in the number of people coming from a right-wing extremist ideology being referred to the government's counter-terrorism strategy Prevent programme. |
| "The concern is when that extremism also crosses the line into terrorism," Ms Berger said. "It also crosses the line into physical threats." | "The concern is when that extremism also crosses the line into terrorism," Ms Berger said. "It also crosses the line into physical threats." |
| The Home Office has been contacted for comment. | The Home Office has been contacted for comment. |
| In October, Wyre and Preston North MP Ben Wallace told Parliament that Prevent had had a growth in far-right referrals, adding: "In some areas of the country, these Prevent referrals outnumber those about the other parts we are worried about." | In October, Wyre and Preston North MP Ben Wallace told Parliament that Prevent had had a growth in far-right referrals, adding: "In some areas of the country, these Prevent referrals outnumber those about the other parts we are worried about." |
| Bonehill-Paine, of Yeovil, Somerset, posted the articles, which called Ms Berger "an evil money-grabber" and claimed the number of Jewish Labour MPs was a "problem", after the jailing of fellow far-right extremist Garron Helm in October the same year. | |
| Helm, then 21, from Merseyside, admitted sending a picture on Twitter depicting the MP with a holocaust-era Star of David on her forehead and the hashtag "Hitler was right". | |
| The court heard Bonehill-Paine had a history of online abuse leaving a trail of devastation in the lives of those he chose to "pick a dispute" with. | |
| Ms Berger said: "This isn't just someone having a go... I felt unsafe because some of the people involved in that campaign... it inspired others to post messages that told me to watch my back, referred to where I lived and made physical threats against me. | Ms Berger said: "This isn't just someone having a go... I felt unsafe because some of the people involved in that campaign... it inspired others to post messages that told me to watch my back, referred to where I lived and made physical threats against me. |
| "As we've seen from the conviction, this is not tolerated in Britain and there are means and ways by which people will be held to account." | "As we've seen from the conviction, this is not tolerated in Britain and there are means and ways by which people will be held to account." |
| The judge also imposed a criminal behaviour order on Bonehill Paine, which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail, to curb his internet activities. | |
| On release, the order gives police the power to monitor his online activities for the next five years. |