Stupidity and anger are never a good combination. A British blogger has been fined for posting an offensive and menacing message about a police officer on his blog.
Gavin Brent, 24, from Holywell, Flintshire, was fined $296 and $718 in costs. He said his post was not meant to be offensive and he used the blog to “let off steam.”
The court heard Brent had been charged with theft offenses which are still pending and that he posted a message on his blog about a police officer’s new born baby. The court said any reasonable person would find the comments menacing.
In February, Brent was charged with 19 theft offenses and the court heard how detective constable Steve Lloyd conducted interviews, but was absent when Brent was charged because his wife was in labor.
Brent found out why the officer was not present and in a blog post complained about the treatment he received from police and ended his post, “P.S. – D.C. Lloyd, God help your new-born baby.”
The officer and his wife saw the blog post and Brent was arrested at his home. He then said, “You can write on websites because it’s freedom of speech,” according to the BBC. In an interview he said he felt he had been mistreated and hoped the officer would not treat his child in the same manner.
He apologized for the menacing comments and offered to remove the offending words and write a letter of apology. When asked if he understood how his blog post affected the officer and his wife he said, “I can now. I am sorry. But their interpretation is different to what I intended.”
According to his latest blog post, the police weren’t very courteous when they arrested him, and complained there were worse crimes:
“This is Tax payers money at work/being wasted folks! forget the rapists, killers and child molesters..real things that involve real people and life long hardship for the victims and/or families.. it seems today i was more important to get! legal justice at its best??? yea right!”
It’s too bad the court did not make Brent seek anger management treatment; reducing one negative trait would be a good start.
