An East Sussex pensioner has been jailed for sending a menacing email to police officials.
John Hoath, 75, of Caburn Crescent, Lewes, appeared for sentencing via videolink at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Thursday, 22nd July 2020.
He is currently remanded in custody in relation to a different matter.
Hoath was convicted of one charge of sending an electronic message of a menacing character, contrary to section 127(1) of the Communications Act 2003, as a result of a trial at the same court on Wednesday, 19th February 2020.
The maximum penalty for this offence on summary conviction is 26 weeks' custody and/or a fine at level 5 (unlimited).
The court heard that Hoath had been in disagreement with Sussex Police for a number of years, in relation to his conviction in 2012 for possession of a firearm and ammunition without a certificate.
This culminated in him sending the offending email to Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, the force's professional standards department and two of the force's solicitors on Tuesday, 9th July 2019.
The email accused the recipients of helping criminals evade justice and threatened them with citizen's arrest if they failed to surrender into his custody within 7 days.
Hoath's account, which was rejected at trial, was that the email had no menacing intent.
Prosecutor Amanda McCae told the court that Hoath claimed Sussex Police was "complicit in handing over his firearms to his co-defendants", which led to him embarking "on a campaign to discredit those he felt were criminally liable".
Ms Bourne, giving evidence at the earlier trial, described how Hoath had visited her office 22 times and sent her up to 150 pieces of correspondence.
Force solicitor Gillian Jones, one of the recipients of Hoath's email, said she had suffered emotionally and professionally and felt unable to do her job "without fear, intimidation or protection".
In her victim impact statement, Ms Jones told the court she had been "bullied" online and called names including "bitch" and "prostitute" which have caused her "a great deal of upset and fear".
Shelly Burroughs, mitigating, said that Hoath believed his 2012 court case was not "investigated correctly" and he had "used the avenues open to him" to dispute it.
She said there was no physical threat in his email to police officials.
District Judge Timothy Godfrey sentenced Hoath to 8 weeks' custody.
He also made a restraining order prohibiting Hoath from contacting Ms Bourne or Ms Jones either directly or indirectly, by any means whatsoever, for the next 5 years.
Addressing Hoath, the Judge said: "I conclude your email did constitute a threat and had at least a modest effect on several victims.
"I am aware you are on remand to Crown Court and you won't be released from the eight weeks I have imposed until the Crown Court has concluded its proceedings."
An unrepentant Hoath replied: "Thank you sir, I wish to appeal your orders and I dispute everything that has been put before the court."
No comments:
Post a Comment