Thom Dyke has successfully prosecuted a right-wing extremist who threatened politicians with “a white tsunami of hate and revenge”.
During 2019, Mr Thomas Thomas engaged in a sustained campaign of virulently racist, anti-Semitic, and violent abuse, in which he targeted a group of high-profile politicians with offensive and threatening emails. These included the former leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hilary Benn MP, and the then-Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow MP, as well as a journalist for The Guardian.
The jury heard that Mr Thomas was an active member of the neo-Nazi website Stormfront. His emails threatened that “only the threat and implementation of violent revolt can change things for ordinary people”. Mr Thomas went on to make reference to the terrorist attacks in New Zealand, saying that “a white tsunami of hate and revenge is on its way to Europe’s sacred shores…when it hits its gonna make Christchurch 2019 look like a chimps tea party”.
Mr Thomas was convicted by a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court of five counts of sending electronic communications with intent to cause anxiety or distress. Sentencing was adjourned until 17 January 2022.
This week Thomas Yarrow revisits the vexed question of the use of artificial intelligence in legal research – and our intrepid reporter finds that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. In fact the experience led him to such depths of despair that he…
This week Ben Rodgers relays two tales from the coalface, both relating to applications to resile from admissions. Readers will be interested to know that in both cases the court applied the balance of prejudice test with the result that the defendants’ applications were refused….
This week Conor Kennedy considers a novel point of construction in relation to challenging service of claim forms; the headline is that defendants must take steps to mount a jurisdictional challenge within the tight deadlines provided for in the CPR, but Conor asks whether this…
Deka Chambers: 5 Norwich Street, London EC4A 1DR