Viscount drops conviction appeal over racist abuse
A-VISCOUNT who offered £5,000 on Facebook for someone to kill Brexit consultation campaigner Gina Miller has dropped his appeal against conviction.
But Rhodri Philipps, the 4th Viscount St Davids, who was jailed in July for 12 weeks for writing a number of offensive and racially abusive posts, is still appealing against his sentence.
The 50-year-old appeared at London’s Southwark Crown Court on bail.
Prosecutor Mark Weekes said: “This was a matter that was originally proceeded by way of appeal against both conviction and sentence.
“The position is the appellant now seeks to abandon his appeal against conviction and proceed only by way of appeal against sentence.”
Philipps, also known as Lord St Davids, was also given a five-year restraining order at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after being convicted of two counts of sending menacing messages on a public electronic communications network.
The appeal hearing was due to take place on August 10 but was adjourned.
Sophie O’Sullivan, representing Philipps, said he needed medical reports that could not be prepared until August 10 because he could not pay his legal team until then.
She added: “In essence, it is our understanding that Mr Philipps is very much suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder which has been following upon his solitary confinement some years ago for over a year.”
Adding that this was between 2007 and 2008, she said he had suffered from anxiety, depression and “deepseated” anger management issues in the past.
The appeal will be heard on August 25.
Philipps’ comment came just four days after Ms Miller, 52, won a landmark High Court challenge against the Government.
He posted: “£5,000 for the first person to ‘accidentally’ run over this bloody troublesome first generation immigrant.”
Philipps, of Knightsbridge, central London, described her as a “boat jumper”, and added: “If this is what we should expect from immigrants, send them back to their stinking jungles.”
He also wrote in response to a news article about an immigrant and his children: “I will open the bidding. £2,000 in cash for the first person to carve Arnold Sube into pieces. Piece of s***.”
Ms Miller, a Guyana-born mother of three, was subjected to a torrent of abuse and threats after spearheading the legal challenge which forced Prime Minister Theresa May to consult Parliament before beginning the formal process of leaving the EU.