Peter Nunn is accused of launching hate campaign after politician backed campaign to put Jane Austen on banknotes

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A "Twitter troll" bombarded a Labour MP with a series of abusive messages after she supported a successful campaign to feature Jane Austen on the £10 note, a court has heard.

Peter Nunn, 33, allegedly retweeted messages threatening to rape the Walthamstow MP, Stella Creasy, and branding her a witch.

He launched his campaign of hatred after the Labour politician backed a high-profile bid launched by the feminist Caroline Criado-Perez to keep a woman on a British banknote, Westminster magistrates court heard.

Alison Morgan, prosecuting, told the court that Nunn "embarked on a campaign of hatred in various different forms towards both women" last summer, when the campaign featured heavily in the press.

He is alleged to have begun leaving offensive posts on 29 July, five days after the Bank of England revealed Austen would be the new face of the £10 note.

He is said to have retweeted a threatening message sent to Creasy which read: "You better watch your back, I'm going to rape your arse at 8pm and put the video all over."

Morgan said: "It is not alleged that he created the text and the threat, but for whatever reason he chose to retweet it and it is a message that is menacing in character."

Over the next day he sent a barrage of other offensive messages to the MP using the Twitter account @protectys, it is claimed.

In his next message he allegedly posted: "Best way to rape a witch, try and drown her first then just when she's gagging for air that's when you enter."

Later that evening he allegedly posted: "If you can't threaten to rape a celebrity, what is the point in having them?"

At 10pm, half an hour before Criado-Perez and Creasy were due to appear on the BBC show Newsnight to talk about the Twitter abuse they had endured, Nunn allegedly left another tweet branding the MP an evil witch.

Just minutes later he is said to have posted a message to the @eatcreasynow account, writing: "Go get her, eat the meat!"

Morgan told the court: "Two minutes before @eatcreasynow sent a message to Stella Creasy saying: 'Hi, it took Twitter 30 minutes to ban me before. I'm here again to tell you that I'll rape you tomorrow at 6pm.'

"The defendant responded in a message to the world: 'Go get her, eat the meat.' It's our suggestion that, when read in the context of previous texts, that is itself menacing."

Later that night he allegedly left another offensive post, writing: "What's the odds of Criado and Creasy snuggling and cuddling under a duvet checking their tweets and cackling like witches (rape me says Caroline)."

The next day he is said to have continued his abuse, leaving posts under a new Twitter account, @stabproovest.

He allegedly retweeted a message to Creasy from someone else saying: "I heard in the news that you are soon going to be raped. Will this be done by a massive black guy? Go away."

The court heard that Nunn, a self-styled blogger from Bristol, also left offensive blogposts in which he branded the campaigners witches and mocked them.

Morgan told the court that while the blog entries did not form part of the criminal charge, they showed the hatred he had for the women.

She said: "They demonstrate the state of mind of the defendant at the time at which he was sending the reported tweets.

"If it were to be submitted that these were jokes or unintended, the background is that he appears to have formed a hatred towards the women expressing themselves on Twitter.

"There are matters that are offensive such as playing Ding Dong the Witch is Dead and a reference to witches and covens."

The court heard that Criado-Perez, who spearheaded the campaign, received a barrage of abuse on Twitter.

Morgan said: "It is right to say that beyond the confines of this particular case, Criado-Perez received a significant number of offensive tweets to her Twitter account from many different users, but including the accounts attributed to this defendant."

Nunn was arrested at his home in Emersons Green, Bristol, on 7 August after Creasy and Criado-Perez reported the abuse.

When police questioned him, he denied using Twitter to advocate violence or rape.

He admitted he had retweeted messages that were violent, but said he had done so to further debate.

Nunn, who wore a grey suit, white shirt and pink and purple patterned tie, denies sending a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character by a public electronic network between 28 July and 5 August last year.

The trial continues.