Two Twitter trolls jailed in UK for abusing feminist campaigner
25 Jan 2014
Two Twitter trolls were jailed in the UK yesterday for tormenting a feminist who campaigned for a woman to appear on a banknote.
Caroline Criado-Perez was targeted by Isabella Sorley, 23, and John Nimmo, 25, with rape threats and abuse after the announcement of the Bank of England that Jane Austen would be featured on the £10 note.
Sorley, a university graduate with 25 previous convictions, most of them for being drunk and disorderly, sent tweets to Criado-Perez that described her as a ''worthless piece of crap'', told her to ''go kill yourself'', and warned "rape is the last of your worries".
Nimmo, who is not employed, told Miss Criado-Perez to "shut up bitch" and wrote "ya not that gd (good) looking to rape u be fine", followed by "I will find you (smiley face)", Westminster Magistrates' Court was told.
Nimmo also threatened Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, described as a "dumb blonde bitch" and targeted with barely concealed threats, "The things I cud do to u (smiley face)".
Judge Howard Riddle sent Sorley to 12 weeks in prison and Nimmo to eight weeks. He remarked it was "hard to imagine more extreme threats''.
The judge observed, despite the defendants' claims, the harm threatened against Criado-Perez "must have been intended to be very high".
The judge added, the effect of the abuse on Criado-Perez had been "life-changing" and that she had had a panic button installed in her home.
According to the judge, the fact that the tweets were anonymous heightened the fear.
Criado-Perez tweeted her response following the sentencing: "It's hard to get my thoughts together at the moment as my stomach is churning – hearing the outcome has made me realise how tense and anxious I have been feeling.
"I did not attend the sentencing as I didn't feel I could cope with being in court with them, and I didn't feel sure that the judge would understand how terrifying and scarring the whole experience has been for me, which again is not something I could face. I feel immensely relieved that the judge clearly has understood the severity of the impact this abuse has had on me.
"The damages that have been awarded to me will be going to charity. When this has all sunk in I will decide which charity."
Sorley and Nimmo have each been ordered to pay £800 compensation.
