'Proud anti-Semite': Joshua Bonehill-Paine had charges against him dismissed

An internet troll who called for disabled people to be exterminated has been cleared of being grossly offensive because a judge decided it was his human right.

Joshua Bonehill-Paine, 22, was in charged over two articles posted on far-right websites, including one promoting eugenics - the practice of killing people whose DNA is seen as inferior.

A court heard that he said babies with conditions like Downs Syndrome should be killed at birth for the good of the nation.

Bonehill-Paine, who calls himself a 'proud anti-Semite' said that the UK should adopt the practices of Sparta in ancient Greece, where physically imperfect babies were abandoned on a hillside.

He accompanied the story, on a site describing itself as 'Britain's number one nationalist newspaper' with a picture of a Tesco worker with Downs Syndrome.

He was also charged over another article in which he claimed food sold by Tesco contained the deadly Ebola virus.

The articles - posted on two separate websites - resulted in charges of misusing a public computer network to propagate grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing material.

But in a hearing at Stevenage Magistrates' Court this week, district judge Carolyn Mellanby dismissed both charges, saying that his right to free speech protects him from being punished over the stories.

Tesco said that they were alerted to Bonehill-Paine's article, and were contacted by almost 200 customers concerned that the story was true.

Despite accepting that Bonehill-Paine was behind the stories, district judge Mellanby said he was protected by the Human Rights Act, which guarantees free speech.

She said: 'Freedom of speech has a very high threshold and I would have breached Article 10 of the Humans Rights Act if I had found you guilty.

'You have a right to express your opinions. You came close, but not close enough. I therefore dismiss the case.'

Bonehill-Paine, of Yeovil, Somerset, was returned to custody after the hearing ahead of a trial he faces at Southwark Crown Court in December.