But leading solicitor backs student’s right to tell anti-Semitic gags
A criminology student got a little more than he bargained for when he came head-to-head with a top QC over a series of bizarre anti-Semitic tweets.
But a leading legal aid solicitor backed the student’s right to offend, seemingly not knowing that he has major trolling previous form, including the issuing of “rape threats” to #Milifandom creator Abby Tomlinson.
Meet self-proclaimed “bit of a dick” criminology student Andrew Nicholson, who goes by @an041989 on Twitter.
Embarking on an epic and nasty trolling session yesterday, Nicholson make remarks directed to the Holocaust Educational Trust — @HolocaustUK on Twitter — in a seeming attempt to be blocked. His comments included, “my grandfather died in the holocaust, he fell off his fucking guard tower” and “Mercedes Benz make mint cars especially in SS Black.”
@Nonjob3 @Asinin3Fucker @HolocaustUK I'm going to try now, my grandfather died in the holocaust, he fell off his fucking guard tower.
— Andrew Nicholson (@an041989) November 26, 2015
@Asinin3Fucker @TheFistOfPain @Nonjob3 @HolocaustUK Mercedes Benz make mint cars especially in SS Black.
— Andrew Nicholson (@an041989) November 26, 2015
With over 6,000 followers, it seems the criminology student has made a bit of name for himself in the Twittersphere. But his keenness to offend may well upset his future career prospects.
Things eventually turned ugly for the student when Marcus Dysch, political correspondent at The Jewish Chronicle, called Nicholson a “serial troll” and reported his tweets to Blackburn College, presumably his place of education, via its Twitter account.
Serial troll @an041989 is now co-ordinating antisemitic hate towards @HolocaustUK. How much longer will you allow this @bbcollege?
— Marcus Dysch (@MarcusDysch) November 26, 2015
And big shot barrister Simon Myerson QC didn’t take the comments lying down either.
The criminal silk — fresh from his Twitter bust-up with barrister media star Charlotte Proudman — hit out at Nicholson for his offensive remarks via his @SCynic1 Twitter account.
Spot the problem. This man won't. https://t.co/Njyw7T4WSO
— Simon Myerson QC (@SCynic1) November 26, 2015
Feeling the wrath of the social media storm, the troll then took to Twitter to justify his comments, saying that he was merely exercising his right to free speech and that the best way to get over dark events is to laugh them off.
Unsurprisingly, the St Pauls Chambers’ barrister was having none of Nicholson’s blasé attitude:
I think this is intended to be abusive, but it lacks even the basic intelligence required to offend. A Nazi then? https://t.co/bCPhbj1436
— Simon Myerson QC (@SCynic1) November 26, 2015
But the student just kept giving, even questioning Myerson’s standing as a QC.
@SCynic1 It's starting to seem unlikely that you are a QC at all, your powers of reservation are off and your entrapment needs work.
— Andrew Nicholson (@an041989) November 26, 2015
In an interesting postscript to this story, leading legal aid lawyer Franklin Sinclair also weighed into the row, and appears to have backed the student’s right to tell offensive jokes, tweeting:
@an041989 @Nonjob3 @ @HolocaustUK not in the slightest. As long as a joke is funny and not deliberately abusive/offensive it's ok
— Franklin Sinclair (@FMStuckers) November 26, 2015
Sinclair, who leads criminal law behemoth Tuckers, had earlier responded to Nicholson’s “my grandfather died in the holocaust” tweet as follows:
@an041989 @Nonjob3 @Asinin3Fucker @HolocaustUK heard Bernard Manning tell that joke years ago at a Jewish do. Hilarious,u can joke about all
— Franklin Sinclair (@FMStuckers) November 26, 2015
In his enthusiasm to showcase his robust freedom of speech credentials, it is possible that Sinclair was not aware of some of Nicholson’s previous work.
And the moral of this story is, that the things you say on social media, like those you say irl, have consequences pic.twitter.com/7765ztb6zG
— Abby Tomlinson (@twcuddleston) September 22, 2015
Since Nicholson’s latest round of tweets, one Twitter user (@GallowayExposed) has now claimed to have reported the troll not only to his university, but to the police.
Legal Cheek reached out to Nicholson for comment and he told us.
I am not anti Semitic because I do not hate Jewish people, to be anti Semitic is to threaten people but the holocaust jokes were not made with malicious intent it was just banter.