AddThis SmartLayers

Pub landlord fined over child abuse images smear against editor

Micahel CaseyA pub landlord has been fined after publishing a false claim that a local news website’s editor had been arrested for downloading images of child abuse.

Karl Morris has admitted making up the allegations about Your Harlow editor Michael Casey after a row over a story his site had published.

Morris posted on Facebook that Michael, pictured, had been arrested after laptops containing indecent images of children had been found after a raid at his home address, which is also Your Harlow’s office.

The post prompted Your Harlow to contact the police, who subsequently arrested Morris. He has now been fined a total of £338 after admitting an offence under the Malicious Communications Act.

Chelmsford magistrates heard how Your Harlow had published a story in September, based on a press release from Essex Police, which detailed how Morris’s pub had been searched as part of a series of raids by a specialist drug unit.

Morris then contacted the site to claim the piece was inaccurate because no drugs were found on his premises and no arrests were made.

Your Harlow subsequently published a clarification, but a later request by Morris that the story be taken down was rejected by Michael.

Morris then sent a text informing Your Harlow that he was outside its offices once again demanding the story be removed, adding he was “starting his own news reports”.

He then published a post on his Facebook page with a headline of ‘Local man arrested..over child porn offences’ which falsely alleged Michael had been arrested and said a petition had been started to stop him from being granted bail.

Morris then sent the post to Michael and claimed: “I got my statement from government sources and so it won’t be removed any time soon.”

Comments such as “string him up” appeared underneath the post.

But after he was arrested by Essex Police, Morris fully admitted that the whole post had been fabricated.

According to Your Harlow’s report of the case, Michael and his family were abroad at the time and believed that their home could be the subject of a vigilante attack – prompting them to implement additional security measures, with police also patrolling nearby.

The following day Michael’s daughter Grace, a mother-of-four, was approached by parents at her children’s school and asked whether the allegations were true. She became highly distressed and believed social services may come and take away her four children, the court heard.

In a Victim Impact Statement, which was read out in court, Michael said: “This was a very cruel thing to do. It set out to try and ruin me, my family and my business. My family were left in a very distressed state after this.

“I have spent seven years building up YourHarlow and am very proud of what we have achieved. As a newspaper, we have put Harlow on the map, with our stories covered nationally and internationally.

“We are respected as a trusted news source. I am a founder member of the press regulator Impress, our site has been praised in the House of Commons and we featured in The BBC One Show in 2019.

“We are Harlow people doing the best for the town we were born in and a town we love. I am a fairly mentally robust journalist but there are many many who I would fear would not have been able to take such a dreadful slur.”

“I am also fortunate to have a close knit family, who came together as I knew they would. I would also like to thank Essex Police for their thorough professionalism in this matter.”

Last year HTFP reported how Michael had threatened to report abusive readers to the police after one called for journalists to be hanged in an online comment.

Essex Police confirmed Morris admitted a charge of sending a false message by public electronic communication network to cause annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety.

He was fined £200 and ordered to pay £105 court costs and £34 to victim services.