Jim Kerr’s brother found guilty of stalking two Simple Minds ‘superfans’
The brother of Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr has been found guilty of stalking two “superfans” of the band.
Paul Kerr threatened to murder John Fagan and drag his wife to a police station by her hair in a row over the Scottish band’s new album, his trial heard.
Kerr, who turned 56 during the trial, also falsely accused
Mr Fagan of raping a nineyear-old boy and posted sexually abusive comments against him and his wife on public Facebook pages.
He was found guilty at Lewes Crown Court yesterday of two counts of pursuing a course of conduct that amounted to stalking against the Fagans, and a further charge of pursuing a course of conduct that amounted to stalking against his ex-girlfriend Elizabeth Vanthof.
The trial heard that Kerr sent emails to two police forces threatening to murder Mr Fagan during the course of an 11-month campaign of abuse between January and November 2018.
Mr Fagan, who lives with his wife Julie Fagan in, Kent, has seen Simple Minds more than 300 times and was an active member of an online forum about the band.
Best known for their hit single Don’t You (Forget About
Me), Simple Minds were the most successful Scottish band of the 1980s.
The dispute started when Mr Fagan replied to a post on Kerr’s public Facebook page about the band’s new album, the court heard.
Mr Kerr had described the new record as “pure s**t”. Prosecutor Jonathan Edwards told the trial: “Mr Kerr, the defendant, posted on his Facebook page that the Fagans had contacted him for help to harm Jim Kerr.” “That was untrue.”
Kerr was previously jailed for two years in 1998 for starting a fire at the home of a business associate.
He was again jailed for two years in 2013 after being convicted of aggravated burglary, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage.
Kerr will be sentenced on 6 January 6 after the conclusion of a psychiatric report.