Retired Brighton-based journalist Greg Hadfield has been acquitted today of the vexatious harassment case brought him at the behest of the local – and potentially national – Israel lobby for exposing an obscene X post by right-wing former Labour MP and Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) chair Ivor Caplin, 67.
Hadfield, a retired Sunday Times news editor who wrote extensively on his personal website about the ‘Labour antisemitism’ scam in which JLM played a leading role, was charged with: “sending by public communication network offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing message/matter” under Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, after posting a screenshot on X last year showing an example of the explicit gay porn with which Caplin peppered his (since-deleted) X account alongside posts supporting right-wing Labour.
Greg Hadfield: not guilty
Caplin, a former Blair defence minister, has still not been charged after being arrested in a paedophile sting operation.
The judge’s verdict in the case is damning. Hadfield has published it here in its entirety – and it reveals that the prosecution doctored the tweet Hadfield sent. In essence, they made it look like he had just shared an explicit screengrab – not that he had screengrabbed a tweet liked by Ivor Caplin. The context here is of course crucial – as even the judge identified that Hadfield was acting as a journalist and whistleblower over Caplin.
Moreover, the judge noted:
In terms of the context of the message I find the prosecution have not satisfied me so I am sure that the post and image is indecent as opposed to maybe shocking. Even if I was so satisfied, any conviction would be disproportionate to the legitimate aim of protecting the confidence in a public communication network such as X. This was a single tweet, in which as a journalist you were expressing frustration that certain individuals and authorities had not brought public facing activities of a former MP to light.
Hadfield told Skwawkbox that the ‘Section 127’ legislation under which he was charged is “deeply flawed” and is being exploited by the Zionist lobby to stifle journalism and free speech. He has written an article calling for the shoddy legislation to be repealed.
The Zionist lobby at work
Given the fact that the prosecution so obviously doctored Hadfield’s tweet and then thought the judge wouldn’t notice – it seems clear that someone was lobbying them to prosecute Hadfield.
Hadfield told Skwawkbox:
This is a victory for all journalists and everyone who believes in free speech. It is a defeat for Zionist extremists like Fiona Sharpe, who has embedded herself in the criminal justice system and the local media in Brighton and Hove. It is a defeat for Peter Kyle and the Labour Party who knew for a long time about Ivor Caplin’s ‘likes’ and likes. They said nothing and did nothing. Neither before nor after Caplin was arrested for allegedly sexually communicating with a child.
The acquittal is the second collapse of Zionist ‘lawfare’ in a single day: Israeli ‘actor’ Gal Gadot’s attempted private prosecution of eight anti-genocide activists for protesting while she was filming in London crashed and burned when the case was thrown out.
By Skwawkbox
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