Blogger court plea
YOUTUBER WHO HOUNDED EASDALES IN TEARS
A TEARFUL Youtuber who hounded Inverclyde businessmen brothers Sandy and James Easdale by repeatedly making false and defamatory allegations about them yesterday pleaded not to be jailed.
Paul Hendry (aka Art Hostage) told judge Lord Braid that he was ‘very, very, very, very, very sorry’ for publishing lies about the billionaire McGill’s Buses tycoons.
Self-styled ‘citizen journalist’ Hendry, 59, branded the businessmen ‘gangsters’ and falsely claimed that they were involved in ‘serious organised crime’.
Hendry breached a court order banning him from repeating his untruths and had previously been ordered to pay the Easdales £400,000 in damages.
Judge Lord Braid wrote about how Hendry said: “So you billionaires, Easdale brothers...come ahead. And yes, there are parallels between you and the Kray brothers...tell them I’m coming and hell is coming with me. Yes, it is coming with me, because this is personal, Easdales.”
Weeping, Hendry told the Court of Session yesterday: “I am very, very, very, very, very sorry about this and I promise this will never ever happen again.
“I have learned a very, very hard lesson from this. I will never, ever speak about the Easdales again.
“I would like to apologise to them both and I will never talk about them again.” Hendry, of Eastbourne, Sussex, had made false claims on YouTube and X about the Easdales.
He had earlier this year denied breaching the interdict, arguing that he had published his material in England, not Scotland. Lord Braid ruled last week that Hendry was in contempt of court for what he had done, and said the Vlogger faced a possible prison sentence for his actions. It’s not the first time that an Easdale has raised a successful
court action against a blogger for defamation.
In 2017, Sandy Easdale won a £200,000 damages case at the Court of Session against a Greenock community activist John Houston.
Hendry was also warned by Merseyside Police over social media posts he made about the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
He later wrongly named innocent people as being linked to other murder cases, leading to a man being assaulted.
Prosecutors in England said his claims were ‘nothing but fiction’.
Hendry had 11,000 followers on X and more than 7,000 YouTube subscribers.
Lord Braid said Hendry’s ‘intention’ in publishing the content about the Easdales was to ‘hound’ them by making false statements about them.
Lord Braid wrote: “Common themes throughout the videos were that the petitioners were at the top of a pyramid of organised crime in Greenock, that they had been involved in numerous murders over decades, that they were involved in the importation of drugs and guns through Greenock, that they were involved in a child abuse ring and blackmail and that they were involved in money laundering.”
Hendry, appearing at the Court of Session via video link yesterday, told how he was ‘house bound’ and lived ‘alone’ and is in arrears with a £1,800-a-month mortgage.
He told the court that he is on benefits, adding: “It looks like my house in going to be repossessed.
“If your lordship feels like giving me a fine then I will do my best to pay it on time.”
Lord Braid deferred sentence on Hendry for six months. He said that if Hendry didn’t repeat the defamatory statements, the court was likely to impose a ‘significant fine’.
He told Hendry that if he didn’t comply with the terms of the court order preventing him from repeating the untruths that he could expect a harsher sentence.
Lord Braid added: “You are likely to receive a custodial sentence.”
Hendry continued crying and replied: “Thank you my lord.”
The case will next call on August 29.