This week a man who wrote on Twitter of Captain Sir Tom Moore, the day after he died, that “the only good Brit solider is a deed one, burn auld fella buuuurn” has been found guilty of sending a “grossly offensive” tweet. He will reappear in court in March for sentencing.
Sheriff Adrian Cottam of Lanark Sheriff Court called it a “gratuitous insult” and was made “with only offence in mind”. Sheriff Cottam’s comments in themselves seem unremarkable, but what is striking is that sending an offensive tweet can land you in front of him in the first place.
Apparently, the Communications Act is the legal mechanism that was employed by the prosecution, in particular the section referring to communication that is “grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character”. A series of terms so vague and broad, their boundaries could not possibly be foreseen in advance by a potential offender.
Random individuals who found the tweet offensive appeared to offer evidence that it had upset them. Somebody who saw the tweet and found it hurtful told the court “To see someone wishing British soldiers dead, it still hurts me. It still hurts me that anybody would disrespect someone that had given their life for the country.”
https://www.bournbrookmag.com/home/rome-burns-whilst-police-chase-tweets