Nightclub boss jailed for online abuse to officer
Campaign started after club was closed down
A former Scarborough nightclub boss has been jailed for subjecting a female police officer to a sustained campaign of online abuse. Wayne Morriss started posting defamatory and inflammatory statements about the officer after Scarborough Council withdrew his club’s operating licence in 2013 in the wake of complaints about violence and anti-social behaviour there.
Morriss, who was described at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court as the “owner and managing director” of Boleyns in St Thomas Street, went on to make a series of posts about the officer following the decision and was given a harassment warning. However, this did not stop the 47-year-old and between May and June last year he made a series of posts naming the PC and referring to her as a “pig **** ” on his open Facebook page.
Katy Varlow, prosecuting, added that Morriss’ friends also made claims about the PC “working as a prostitute”.
Morriss, of Hilderthorpe Road, Bridlington, denied the charge of harassment without violence but was found guilty following a one-day trial.
At his sentencing hearing on Thursday a victim statement from the PC was read out to the court. She told of how people she would meet in the line of duty would bring up the posts and that she became depressed and withdrawn.
Sarah Stewart, mitigating, told the court that Morriss was an “unsophisticated” man who had used Facebook to “vent his feelings as he felt he had no other way to release his anger,” which he now regrets.
She said that Morriss never made any threats of violence towards her.
Mrs Stewart told the court that Morriss had “huge” debts but still hoped to get the nightclub open again. She added: “Only during his trial did he realise the impact the posts had upon [the victim].”
Morriss showed no emotion as he was handed 24 weeks in prison. The court also made an indefinite restraining order forbidding Morriss from contacting the PC or posting anything about her online.