Pair jailed over abusive tweets to feminist campaigner

Sorley and Nimmo bombarded Ms Criado-Perez with messages last July

A man and a woman have been jailed for sending abusive messages on Twitter to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez.

Isabella Sorley, 23, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who also targeted Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison.

John Nimmo, 25, of South Shields, was jailed for eight weeks.

They had pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court to improper use of a communications network.

Their messages were sent last July after Ms Criado-Perez led a campaign using social media and backed by high profile public figures, including Ms Creasy, for a female figure to appear on a Bank of England note.

'Heightened fear'

The court heard that one tweet from Sorley started with an expletive and continued: "Die you worthless piece of crap." Ms Criado-Perez was also told to "go kill yourself".

Sorley also sent the message: "I've only just got out of prison and would happily do more time to see you berried!!"

In a separate set of abusive messages, Nimmo told Ms Criado-Perez to "shut up" and made references to rape followed by "I will find you (smiley face)".

District Judge Howard Riddle said the effects on both women were "substantial" and it was "hard to imagine more extreme threats".

Ms Criado-Perez felt "terrified" every time the doorbell rang, he said, while Ms Creasey had a panic button installed at her home.

The judge said of the abusive tweets: "The fact that they were anonymous heightened the fear.

"The victims had no way of knowing how dangerous the people making the threats were, whether they had just come out of prison, or how to recognise and avoid them if they came across them in public."

After the sentencing, Ms Criado-Perez said in a statement: "It's hard to get my thoughts together at the moment as my stomach is churning - hearing the outcome has made me realise how tense and anxious I have been feeling. But here goes.

"I did not attend the sentencing as I didn't feel I could cope with being in court with them - and I didn't feel sure that the judge would understand how terrifying and scarring the whole experience has been for me, which again is not something I could face.

"I feel immensely relieved that the judge clearly has understood the severity of the impact this abuse has had on me."