A BRITISH VISCOUNT who offered a reward for the “accidental” death of a Brexit ‘Remain’ supporter has been jailed for 12 weeks.
Viscount St Davids, also known as Lord Rhodri Philipps, was today handed the sentence for what the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) described as a “racially aggravated Facebook threat about Gina Miller”.
He was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after his conviction on two charges of sending menacing messages.
The CPS asked the court to increase Lord St Davids’ sentence – known as an “uplift” – as his comment about Miller was racially aggravated.
Without the uplift his prison sentence would have been eight weeks.
The comment which gave rise to the second charge, a menacing message about a migrant called Arnold Sube, was not judged to be racially aggravated.
Kate Mulholland, London CPS reviewing lawyer, said: “Where offences are motivated by hostility towards victims based on their perceived race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity, the CPS has a duty to ask the court for a formal ‘uplift’ in sentencing.
The menacing comment by Philipps about Gina Miller was clearly racially motivated and as a result he has received a longer sentence today to reflect the hate crime element.
Detective Chief Superintendent Mick Gallagher, from the Met’s Organised Crime Command, added:“These posts were grossly offensive in nature and Phillips has now been brought to justice.
“The Metropolitan Police is committed to tackling all forms of hate crime and I would like to encourage anyone who has been a victim of such a crime to contact police and we will make every effort to hold offenders to account.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say