Blogger 'bombarded Labour MP with abusive tweets branding her a witch after she supported campaign to feature Jane Austen on the £10 note'

I don't believe that threats of violence are entitled to free speech protection so I support this prosecution.  Threats of violence can be very disturbing to even well-balanced recipients

A twitter troll bombarded a Labour MP with abusive messages after she supported a successful campaign to feature Jane Austen on £10 notes, a court heard yesterday.

Peter Nunn, 33, is said to have passed on the ‘menacing’ messages threatening to rape Stella Creasy and calling her an ‘evil witch’.

Miss Creasy, MP for Walthamstow, was deluged with offensive messages after she backed a high-profile social media  campaign to ensure a female face would remain on banknotes.

The court heard Nunn both retweeted and composed messages in which  campaigners were threatened.

Feminist Caroline Criado-Perez launched the Austen campaign in July after the Bank of England replaced social activist Elizabeth Fry with Sir Winston Churchill on £5 notes. The Bank then announced the Pride And Prejudice author would replace Charles Darwin on the £10 note.

Alison Morgan, prosecuting, told Westminster Magistrates’ Court Nunn ‘embarked on a campaign of hatred in various different forms towards both women’.

SOURCE