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Labour MP Luciana Berger speaks outside the Old Bailey in London today. Jonathan Brady PA Wire/PA Images
anti-semitic

Man who wrote 'hate-filled' articles about MP found guilty of racially-aggravated harassment

One of them was called The Legacy of Operation Filthy Jew B***h.

A MAN WHO posted “highly offensive” and anti-Semitic articles relating to Luciana Berger, a Labour MP, has been found guilty of guilty racially-aggravated harassment.

The jury at the Old Bailey in London heard Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 24, had engaged in an online hate campaign against Berger.

Bonehill-Paine, from Yeovil in Somerset, began posting the articles on two websites in 2014 following the conviction of another man who had posted similarly hateful content about Berger.

The articles were described in court as “littered with hate”. One of them was called The Legacy of Operation Filthy Jew Bitch.

Bonehill-Paine will be sentenced at a later date and the Crown Prosecution Service will apply for a Criminal Behaviour Order to restrict his access to the internet.

Sarah Jennings, a lawyer from CPS London, said:

“The highly offensive, hateful and racist articles written by Bonehill-Paine in his online campaign against Ms Berger are indefensible.

He claimed that the posts were appropriate within the bounds of free speech and freedom of political expression. However, the whole point of his posts was to aim anti-Semitic hostility towards Luciana Berger.

“Everyone has the right not to be harassed or subjected to racist abuse, no matter what position they hold in public life.”

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