Neo-Nazi Joshua Bonehill-Paine guilty of vile anti-Semitic campaign against MP Luciana Berger

Guilty: Neo-Nazi Joshua Bonehill-Paine
Metropolitan Police
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A Neo-Nazi extremist has been found guilty of waging a vile anti-Semitic hate campaign against MP Luciana Berger, dubbing her “evil” and a “filthy Jew B***h”.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 24, ranted about the MP for Liverpool Waverlee on his white supremacist website and blog, photoshopping her face on to a rat and blaming her for the death of Jesus.

He claimed he was exercising his right to free speech in five articles attacking the Labour MP, but a jury at the Old Bailey today convicted him of racially aggravated harassment.

Bonehill-Paine, who is already serving a prison sentence for inciting racial hatred, stood with his hands on his hips as the guilty verdict was delivered. He chuckled when the judge pointed out today is his 24th birthday.

He had defiantly stood by his anti-Semitic articles when first arrested, insisting he wanted to go before a jury to prove his innocence. But he stayed silent throughout the trial, and his own barrister admitted Bonehill-Paine is “pathetic” and his views are unpalatable.

Bonehill-Paine was locked up for three years and four months in December last year for promoting an “anti-Jewification” march through Golders Green by far-right extremists.

He posted incendiary material online in the run-up to the march, including a picture of a Second World War death camp accompanied by a bottle of weed killer, and made a joke about the rally being a “gas”.

His harassment of Ms Berger came in retaliation for the prosecution of another far-right extremist who had been targeting the MP.

Liverpool-based neo-Nazi Garron Helm was jailed for four weeks in October 2014 for a Twitter attack on Ms Berger, superimposing a Holocaust yellow star on her forehead and using the hashtag “Hitler was right”.

Abuse: Labour MP Luciana Berger arriving at the Old Bailey
PA

Though Helm pleaded guilty, Bonehill-Paine believed the conviction was wrong and launched “Operation Filthy Jew B***h” in retaliation.

"Ms Berger was referred to by Mr Bonehill-Paine as a rodent, evil, a money grabber, a dominatrix, and responsible for the death of Jesus”, said prosecutor Philip Stott.

He told jurors Bonehill-Paine has a “passionate hatred of the Jewish community”, and his articles - posted between October 2014 and January last year - were "littered with hate" directed at Ms Berger.

The MP came to the Old Bailey to give evidence, telling the court she felt “under attack” and scared for her safety when she saw Bonehill-Paine’s articles.

"I felt sick, really", she said. "It's attacking me for my faith or religion and not something I have said or done for my constituents."

"I have received, as an MP, anti-Semitism since I was elected. The scale and body during this period, combined with articles, I felt very much under attack. It was all-consuming.”

Bonehill-Paine posted four of the hate articles on an online newspaper he had set up called The Daily Bale, which boasts of being the “Britain’s Number 1 Nationalist Newspaper”.

A fifth, celebrating the work of “Operation Filthy Jew Bitch” including the fact Ms Berger had been inundated with offensive Tweets, was posted on his personal blog.

Ms Berger sat in court this afternoon as the guilty verdict was delivered.

At his first court appearance, Bonehill-Paine claimed he was “highlighting the conspiracy of the New World Order” and quoted George Orwell as he professed to be a free speech champion.

But at trial, as he stayed silent, his barrister James Palfrey admitted Bonehill-Paine is “tragic” and “pathetically wrong-headed”, and dismissed the articles as “pathetic, puerile rubbish”.

“They are his contribution – meaningless it may be – to political discourse, and we live in a society where everyone is entitled to a voice”, he said.

Mr Justice Spencer will adjourned sentencing until a later date.

Bonehill-Paine, from Yeovil, denied racially aggravated harassment, but was convicted by the jury.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in