A man who said Capt Sir Tom Moore should “burn auld fella, buuuuurn”, the day after the 100-year-old fundraising hero died, has been found guilty of sending a “grossly offensive” tweet.
Joseph Kelly, 36, posted on Twitter on February 3 last year that “the only good Brit soldier is a deed one, burn auld fella buuuuurn”.
Mr Kelly, of Castlemilk, Glasgow, was found guilty of sending the message after a trial at Lanark Sheriff Court, with Sheriff Adrian Cottam saying his “gratuitous insult” about Sir Tom was made “with only offence in mind”.
“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," Mr Cottam told Mr Kelly.
“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.”
At one point in the trial Mr Cottam threatened to put Mr Kelly in the cells if he did not stop shaking his head as prosecutor Liam Haggert spoke about Sir Tom.
Cameron Smith, defending, had argued that the tweet could not be described as “grossly offensive”. While it might be “unpleasant” and “unsavoury”, he said, it did not pass the threshold.
Mr Smith told the hearing that the message was not about a protected characteristic, such as race, religion, or gender, and did not incite violence.
Moore, who captured the hearts of the nation with his fundraising efforts during the first coronavirus lockdown, died in Bedford Hospital on February 2 after testing positive for Covid-19.
He walked 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, raising more than £32 million ($43m) for the NHS, and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in recognition of his efforts.
Janet Hunter Jess, who saw the tweet, told the court of the hurt the message brought her.
“To see someone wishing British soldiers dead, it still hurts me," said Ms Hunter Jess, 72, whose family were in the armed services.
"It still hurts me that anybody would disrespect someone that had given their live for the country.”
Another person who saw the tweet, Luzier Jeffery, Mr Kelly’s neighbour at the time, said she was “shocked” when she saw the message.
“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," said Ms Jeffery, 51.
“If you have had anybody who fought for your country, it just left a bad taste.”
She said told the court that she spoke to Mr Kelly after he was arrested and he told her that he had “done a lot of stupid things in my time but that’s one of the worst”.
“He regretted it from what I can remember. It was a spur-of-the-moment [thing],” she said.
The charge under the Communications Act said that Mr Kelly made a post to the public using social media, which was “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character, and that did utter offensive remarks about Capt Sir Tom Moore, now deceased”.
Mr Kelly has been released on bail and will appear before the court again in March for sentencing.
