Court told he also posted fake rape claims online
THE brother of Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr threatened to murder a band superfan and drag his wife to a police station by her hair, a court heard yesterday. Paul Kerr falsely accused John Fagan of raping a boy and posted abusive comments about him on Facebook, it was claimed. Kerr, 55, sent emails to police threatening to murder John during the course of a BY MICHAEL DRUMMOND campaign of abuse between January and November last year, prosecutors said.
John, who lives with wife Julie in Canterbury, Kent, has seen Simple Minds more than 300 times and was a member of an online forum about the band.
The dispute began after John replied to Kerr’s Facebook post which stated that Simple Minds’ latest album was “pure s***”.
Prosecutor Jonathan Edwards told Lewes Crown Court in Sussex that Kerr then posted on Facebook that the Fagans had contacted him for help to harm Jim Kerr, then claimed that John raped a nine-year-old boy.
The court heard that Kerr took photos from the Fagans’ Facebook pages and reposted them with abusive messages. It was also alleged that he used fake accounts to post “sexual abuse and allegations of rape”.
Kerr also threatened to come to Canterbury to “cripple” John and “drag Julie by her hair” to a police station, the court heard.
Kerr, of Brighton, denies two counts of stalking the Fagans and a charge of stalking against ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Vanthof.
Paul Walker, defending, told the court that John contacted Kerr “to help him destroy Jim Kerr’s career” and said his client denies being the author of the abusive messages.
He also claimed the Fagans created the fake accounts and posted about themselves.
The trial continues.