Viscount faces jail for online threats to campaigner

A VISCOUNT who offered money on Facebook for someone to kill Brexit campaigner Gina Miller faces jail after being convicted of sending menacing messages.

Rhodri Philipps, 50, the 4th Viscount St Davids, wrote a message just four days after Ms Miller won a landmark High Court challenge against the Government last year.

He posted: “£5,000 for the first person to ‘accidentally’ run over this bloody troublesome first generation immigrant.”

He described her as a “boat jumper” and added: “If this is what we should expect from immigrants, send them back to their stinking jungles.”

Four days later he posted about “torturing Tony Blair, Hilary Clinton, ISIS, Dave (PM) the forgettable, Murdoch ..... Oh and that hideous jumped up immigrant Gina Miller”.

Philipps, of Knightsbridge, central London, was convicted of two counts of sending menacing messages on a public electronic communications network and cleared of one count after a trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Senior district judge Emma Arbuthnot said: “I had no doubt that the first post was menacing ... You were offering money to have her killed. To some who don’t know you, they would perceive the offers of bounty as menacing.”

Ms Arbuthnot found the post about Ms Miller to be racially aggravated and told Philipps he faces a prison sentence.

He was found not guilty of making another post where, in response to a news article about an immigrant, he wrote: “Please will someone ‘smoke’ this ghastly insult to our country. Why should I pay tax to feed these monkeys.”

The court heard he had talked about a “new crusade” and “collective register of Muslims” and added: “Makes the job a lot easier for our collective SIS to track down non-conformists, and frankly, shoot them on the spot”.

Ms Miller, 52, said she found his comments about her “genuinely shocking” and felt “violated”.

She said she was “very scared for the safety of herself and her family” in a statement read to the court on Monday.

Ms Miller was subjected to a torrent of abuse and threats after spearheading the legal challenge which forced Theresa May to consult Parliament before beginning the formal process of leaving the EU.

Philipps, also known as Lord St Davids, has accepted writing the posts but said they were not publicly visible and were not menacing.

He insisted he is not racist and told the court: “I know a number of Muslims who are dear friends.”