Right wing 'star' in court for anti-Muslim pub hoax

Categories: Latest News
Wednesday March 19 2014
BBC News and local paper, Western Gazette, report on the court hearing of Joshua Bonehill-Paine who wrote an article on his website, the Daily Bale, falsely claiming that a pub in Leicester had banned members of the British armed forces to ease community tensions.
While BBC News reports that Bonehill-Paine falsely claimed the ban was in a bid to avoid offending the “immigrant population”, the local paper claims that the article on the Daily Bale referred to the ban as being imposed “out of respect for the local Islamic community”.
Somerset Magistrates Court heard how the pub subsequently received menacing phonecalls and threats to firebomb the premises and to kill or assault staff. The threats prompted the pub landlord to temporarily close the pub and employ security staff during its reopening.
Bonehill-Paine, 21, who describes himself as “a rising star of the right-wing community,” pleaded guilty to sending an electronic communication in order to cause distress or anxiety to the recipient between 15 August and 18 August.
He also admitted to two other offences of making malicious communications by sending threatening Facebook messages. Another allegation regarding an abusive Facebook message about UKIP leader Nigel Farage was withdrawn.
BBC News notes past hoaxes by Bonehill-Paine’s for which he has not faced prosecution. Last year, Bonehill-Paine publicised a missing person’s poster on his website, claiming that a six-year-old girl had been “kidnapped by an Asian grooming gang”. Another article was posted on the website in September alleged that an Asian youth had beaten a two-month-old baby in Middlesbrough and was accompanied by an image of a beaten child.
Speaking to BBC Asian Network, Bonehill-Paine said that the article was written by a member of the English Defence League and that “stupidly we allowed it to be put out without researching the actual article first”.
While a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said they have not received any complaints about the missing child appeal hoax, a spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said an officer would be looking into the baby attack hoax and “seeing if any action needs to be taken”.
Somerset Magistrates Court adjourned the case until 4 April for sentencing and have released Bonehill-Paine on unconditional bail.