Want Stoke-on-Trent news emailed to you direct from our journalists? Sign up to our newsletter Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Former election candidate Barbara Fielding-Morriss has been warned she could face prison – after being convicted of inciting racial hatred.

A jury took just over two-and-a-half hours to find the 79-year-old guilty of three charges, which relate to ‘threatening, abusive or insulting’ material she published on her website.

Fielding-Morriss, who stood as an independent in last year’s Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election, was acquitted of a fourth count.

Recorder Julian Taylor told the defendant he was considering giving her a custodial sentence, and said that the material published on the website was among the most ‘vile’ he had ever read.

(Image: Matthew Cooper/PA Wire)

In one of the articles, Fielding-Morriss praised Adolf Hitler and talked about building ‘new and better death camps’, while in another she compared Jewish people and immigrants to ‘termites’. She also said she would ‘clean up the world’s Islamic infestation’.

Fielding-Morriss, of Stuart Avenue, Draycott, polled 137 votes, or 0.6 per cent of the total, in the by-election. She also stood in Stoke-on-Trent Central in last June’s General Election, receiving 210 votes.

Recorder Taylor adjourned sentence until Friday, to give the defendant the chance to seek legal representation. She had represented herself during the four-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, claiming that the articles were protected under freedom of expression and the European Convention on Human Rights.

He told Fielding-Morriss: “The jury have found you guilty of three counts on the indictment. I found some of the evidence really quite chilling.

“You are clearly an intelligent woman, and I found some of the historical articles you wrote to be quite interesting – whether they were accurate or not is neither here nor there.

“But amongst that were some of the most vile things I’ve ever read. I have been doing this job long enough to have seen the unpleasant face of humanity, but I have to say that some of the things that were read out in court really shocked me. You talked about building better gas ovens and compared people to termites – things I would have hoped never to see in this country.

“It really was quite shocking, and you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.

“The jury didn’t believe that you were entitled to free speech, nor were you. This is a very serious matter, and I am strongly considering a custodial sentence, never mind the fact that you are 79.”

Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay told the court that he would be applying for a criminal behaviour order.

The fourth count of inciting racial hatred, for which Fielding-Morriss was found not guilty, referred to ‘primitive Asian migrant children’.

City councillor Joy Garner, who reported Fielding-Morriss to the police and gave evidence during the trial, welcomed the verdict.

She said: "I think that she clearly needs some sort of help. But nobody can make these sort of comments online, on anywhere else. History, and recent history, shows us that people will read this sort of thing, and will act on it."