He posted the tweet the day after Sir Tom’s death
A man has been found guilty of posting a “grossly offensive” tweet about Captain Tom the day after the 100-year-old passed away in 2021.
On February 3 last year, Joseph Kelly sent a tweet saying “the only good Brit soldier is a deed [sic] one, burn auld fella buuuuurn.”
The man, from Castlemilk, Glasgow, was found guilty of sending the message following a trial at Lanark Sheriff Court
Sheriff Cottam told Kelly: “This is a man who had become known as a national hero, who stood for the resilience of the people of a country struggling with a pandemic and the services trying to protect them.
“His statute and the view of society towards him must be looked at in that light and therefore any comment likewise.
“What the accused chose to write, when and how it was said, can only be regarded as grossly offensive.”
STV reports Kelly did not stop shaking his head as prosecutor Liam Haggert spoke about Sir Tom, causing Sheriff Cottam to threaten to put Kelly in the cells if he did not stop.
The 36-year-old was arrested last February for the tweet.
Kelly’s defence had argued that, although “unpleasant” and “unsavoury,” the tweet was not “grossly offensive,” as it was not about a protected characteristic – like race, religion, or gender – and did not incite violence.
The charge under the Communications Act said that Kelly made a post to the public using social media that was “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character, and that did utter offensive remarks about Captain Sir Tom Moore, now deceased”.
Sir Tom passed away in Bedford Hospital on February 2, 2021.
Captain Tom Moore walked 100 laps of his garden for the NHS in the first lockdown, raising more than £32m (Getty)One person who saw the tweet, Janet Hunter Jess, told the court of her pain at seeing the message.
The 72-year-old, whose family served in the armed forces, said: “To see someone wishing British soldiers dead, it still hurts me. It still hurts me that anybody would disrespect someone that had given their life for the country.”
Kelly’s neighbour, Luzier Jeffery also saw the tweet, and said she was “shocked” when she read it.
Jeffrey, 51, stated: “First of all, the gentleman in question had done so much to raise awareness and funds for the NHS in England and became a bit of a national hero at the time, but then the fact it referred to British soldiers as well.
“If you have had anybody who fought for your country, it just left a bad taste.”
She told the court that she spoke to Kelly after he was arrested, adding that he told her that he had “done a lot of stupid things in my time but that’s one of the worst.”
She said: “He regretted it from what I can remember, it was a spur of the moment (thing).”
Kelly has been released on bail and will appear before the court again in March for sentencing.
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