Blogger given restraining order for grossly offensive and menacing tweets (From News Shopper)
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Blogger Olly Cromwell given restraining order for grossly offensive and menacing tweets
5:05pm Wednesday 9th May 2012 in Bexley By Jim Palmer
Blogger given restraining order for grossly offensive and menacing tweets
A BLOGGER has been given a restraining order over a pair of “grossly offensive and menacing” tweets.
Outspoken Bexley Council critic John Graham Kerlen, 37, who writes under the name Olly Cromwell and blogs at youve-been-cromwelled.org, was ordered to carry out 80 hours unpaid work within 12 months at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (May 9).
He was also ordered to pay £620 costs and made subject to a restraining order preventing him from referring directly or indirectly to his victim, their family or home.
Last month he was convicted of sending grossly offensive or menacing messages over a public communications network in relation to two tweets sent on October 1.
In the first tweet he posted a picture of Bexley councillor Melvin Seymour’s house in Crayford – which he was living opposite at the time – and wrote: “To start, which c*** lives in a house like this? Answers on a postcard to Bexley Council.”
He later added: “It is silly posting a picture of a councillor’s house on Twitter without his address. That will come later. Please feel free to post him actual s***.”
Kerlen, of Milwards in Harlow, Essex, never did reveal the address or the councillor’s identity and in December was cleared of a charge of harassment in relation to the same tweets.
Not being a Twitter user, the messages were brought to Cllr Seymour’s attention by a fellow councillor.
Rupert Hallowes, mitigating, described Kerlen’s actions as an “epic misjudgement”.
IT worker Kerlen told the police in an interview in October he had pushed the boundaries “a bit too far” and offered to apologise.
Mr Hallowes said: “Clearly he has been humbled by this error in judgement.”
He added: “This is a man who has been active in local politics, who takes an active interest in local politics, who considered himself a controversial commentator of local politics and is someone who wants to hold Bexley Council to account so that its transactions are carried out in a transparent way.”
Kerlen said he plans to appeal the conviction.
Comments(15)
MasChevious
says...
9:56am Thu 10 May 12
jeepo17 wrote:I would have thought a year in prison would have taught this thug a serious lesson in British justice... ..now he intends to "appeal" after getting a very small fine... ..at least he has been scared out of his wits from doing this kind of blogging again... ..ha ha
i predicted this on twitter the day before! lol
ade12001
says...
10:00am Thu 10 May 12
Offside Rule
says...
10:17am Thu 10 May 12
Spiderplant
says...
10:41am Thu 10 May 12
What the article fails to mention is that Kerlan was award £2046.26 in costs by the judge for being arrested for alleged breach of bail conditions and a previous harassment charge, both of which he was cleared off. So If you do the maths (and the reporting) properly you'll see that Bexley Council have in fact ended up out of pocket and had to pay him.
How do I know this? I was in court reporting the case myself.
Long live free speech.
the wall
says...
11:40am Thu 10 May 12
Spiderplant wrote:Well said!
Actually it doesn't work out at £155 per letter at all. What the article fails to mention is that Kerlan was award £2046.26 in costs by the judge for being arrested for alleged breach of bail conditions and a previous harassment charge, both of which he was cleared off. So If you do the maths (and the reporting) properly you'll see that Bexley Council have in fact ended up out of pocket and had to pay him. How do I know this? I was in court reporting the case myself. Long live free speech.
Restraining order preventing him from referring directly or indirectly to his victim, their family or home.... This is a joke, Councillor Melvin Seymour need to grow a pair and learn the saying ' Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
Councillor Melvin Seymour says:
He is very proud and privileged to be representing the people of Crayford and is pleased to be expressing their views and listening to their concerns... Well some of them anyway.
As the saying goes:
Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish and chip paper.
But Councillor Melvyn Seymour has dragged this out. Most people would not have know about this and couldn't of cared less. But now all Councillor Melvyn Seymour has done is brought it to the attention of the media.
Well done Mel you're a bright one!
ron.1952
says...
12:00pm Thu 10 May 12
Thanks Spiderplant for telling us the whole story.
Ron
Sirwin
says...
12:08pm Thu 10 May 12
jackrussell1960
says...
9:46am Fri 11 May 12
Gold and Silver
says...
10:11am Fri 11 May 12
miss sweethuney
says...
10:17am Fri 11 May 12
the wall
says...
11:13am Fri 11 May 12
jackrussell1960 wrote:The irony is strong in this one.
this blogger was a coward i mean he could have stood for election himself against the cllr if he wanted to challenge him politically but he didnt have the guts to do it and chose to try intimidate the guy and make threats on the internet that is completly wrong and now he hasnt got the guts to take the sentence handed out by the courts and is appealing what a yellow belly coward he really is lololol but i hope they upheld the sentence of 80hrs community service so he can don a high vis jacket and get sweeping up the litter and rubbish of others scum like him hiding behind his computer making threats is the last thing good bloggers really need!
Morning All
says...
12:38pm Sat 12 May 12
englishman333
says...
10:25am Mon 14 May 12
commenting scoffer
says...
10:44am Mon 14 May 12
englishman333 wrote:...indeed 'e.m.' some people just do not know how to behave on the interweb - my gud friend 'ron' has a blog still running for the last four or so years now!! and my own blog of the last eighteen months is doing rather well i would like to add... and not a single complaint either!! and when you think that erastus piggott's blog was shut down for rule-breaking it makes you wonder the type of person who deem themselves fit to have a blog... 'lester' was shut dahn because hundreds and hundreds of complaints flooded-in because of the nature of the blog, sexist, racist, obscene, and some very vile contents not fit for a family newspaper like the shopper... and quite right too!! ...'not a defeat to my name' eh ? oh my sides!! rofl!!
cannot understand why some bloggers feel the need to cross that line and become abusive and threatening.... there is a lesson to be learnt by all bloggers.... stop the threats and stay within the law or end up in court!
jeepo17 says...
9:46am Thu 10 May 12