A man has been arrested and charged in Lanarkshire, Scotland, “in connection with an offensive social media tweet about Captain Sir Tom Moore,” according to BBC News.
“A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: ‘On Friday 5 February 2021, we received a report of an offensive tweet about Captain Sir Tom Moore who died on Tuesday 2 February,’” the BBC reported.
“A 35-year-old man has subsequently been arrested and charged in connection with communication offenses and is due to appear at Lanark Sheriff Court on Wednesday 17 February,” the spokeswoman continued.
According to the Daily Mail, 35 year-old Joseph Kelly is due to appear at a Sheriff Court and is accused of “communications offenses,” triggering outrage from free speech campaigners. The “communication offense” in question relates to a Tweet Kelly wrote shortly after Captain Sir Tom Moore’s death, which read “The only good Brit soldier is a deed one, burn auld fella, buuuuurn.”
According to Police Scotland, the tweet was reported to them three days later.
“It comes as the SNP continues efforts to introduce a new hate crime bill that will criminalize ‘stirring up hatred’ – a ‘vague’ definition that critics believe could legalize cancel culture,” the Daily Mail wrote.
Section 127 of the United Kingdom’s Communications Act of 2003 (singed into law under Tony Blair’s Labour Government) states that “A person is guilty of an offence if he … sends by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character.”
“A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable, Section 127 continues, ‘on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or to both.’”
Known as “Sir Tom,” the World War Two veteran died in Bedford Hospital last week at the age of 100 after being admitted after having trouble breathing. After several weeks of treatment for pneumonia, he was later diagnosed with COVID-19.
He had become a national hero after raising more than £32 million for the National Health Service (NHS) during the United Kingdom’s first COVID-19 lockdown. He was knighted in July by Queen Elizabeth II.