Scots troll who posted 'grossly offensive' Captain Sir Tom Moore tweet dodges jail

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Scots troll who posted an offensive message Captain Sir Tom Moore one day after he died has dodged jail. Joseph Kelly tweeted "the only good Brit soldier is a deed one burn auld fella buuuuurn" on February 3, 2021.

The 36-year-old was found guilty of the "grossly offensive" message at Lanark Sheriff Court in January. Kelly, from Castlemilk, Glasgow was handed a community payback order at when he returned for sentencing on Wednesday.

Sheriff Adrian Cottam sentenced the Twitter troll to a community payback order; 18 months of supervision and 150 hours of unpaid work.

Sheriff Cottam hoped Kelly's sentencing would prevent others from tweeting such messages.Sheriff Cottam said: "My view is, having heard the evidence, that this was a grossly offensive tweet."The deterrence is really to show people that despite the steps you took to try and recall matters, as soon as you press the blue button that's it."It's important for other people to realise how quickly things can get out of control."You are a good example of that, not having many followers."Kelly's defence agent Tony Callahan said the 36-year-old had only a handful of followers when he posted the tweet and did not realise how widely it would be shared.He said Kelly quickly took steps to take down the tweet, which was only live for 20 minutes, and has since expressed regret and remorse.Mr Callahan said: "He accepts he was wrong."He did not anticipate what would happen."He took steps almost immediately to delete the tweet but the genie was out of the bottle by then."His level of criminality was a drunken post, at a time when he was struggling emotionally, which he regretted and almost instantly removed."The charge under the Communications Act said Kelly made a post to