Covid denier jailed for online posts encouraging violence against Chris Whitty

Patrick Ruane, 55, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of two charges of encouraging terrorism in a series of Telegram posts during 2021.

Patrick Ruane’s messages were ‘extremely dangerous’ during a volatile time, a judge said (Metropolitan Police/PA) (PA Media)

A Covid denier has been jailed for five years after encouraging violence against Professor Sir Chris Whitty on social media.

Patrick Ruane, 55, was found guilty at the Old Bailey of two charges of encouraging terrorism in a series of Telegram posts in which he advocated the use of weapons, guns and explosions.

He suggested “whacking” the chief medical officer for England Sir Chris over the head with a rounders bat in one post.

Sentencing on Monday, Judge Richard Marks KC said Ruane’s messages were “extremely dangerous” during a volatile time.

The judge said the defendant could not be sure that people would not act out what was said in the messages.

He went on to say that Ruane had a “compulsive and obsessive” mindset about the vaccines and that he often posted the messages while “blind drunk”.

The judge also acknowledged Ruane’s childhood trauma and alcohol dependence.

He added: “The overwhelming view around the world was that the vaccines were hugely effectively in saving lives. You and others, however, did not share that opinion.

“You were, of course, fully entitled to publicly vent your views and to do so in an extremely cogent and forceful way, if you chose.

“You, however, went very much further and in so doing committed the offences of which you were convicted.”

Ruane specifically targeted individuals, such as Sir Chris, and the chief executive officer of Covid vaccine developer Pfizer in a series of posts during 2021, the court heard previously.

Ruane had replied to a post about Sir Chris, saying: “The weakest point of the scull (sic) is the back of the scull (sic) and all it would take is riding a bike very fast and whacking target over the back of head with a rounders bat but a mace (a piece of metal ball and chain) would be way better.”

He said this “would turn said target into a vegetable for the rest of its life”.

In response to the creator of the AstraZeneca vaccine getting a standing ovation at Wimbledon, he commented: “It’s a shame there was not a sharp shooter to take that f****** POS (piece of shit) out.”

Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker said that Ruane was “angry, frustrated and upset” about lockdown policies and the vaccine rollout.

He believed conspiracy theories about a “hidden agenda” and was particularly focused on manufacturers of the Covid vaccine and those who administered jabs, she said.

In one post, Ruane wrote that he was “all for hunting them down and f****** executing them”, saying “too many people” had died and “it’s not going to stop until we start killing them back”.

When someone posted about not allowing a “satanist puppet” to come near his children with “that poison jab kill shots”, the defendant encouraged others to “find where they live, put a kill squad together and shoot” them in their beds.

In response to another post, he advocated burning “all the big pharmas’ offices, manufacturing plants and infrastructure” to the ground.

The court heard Ruane referred to executing politicians, saying the manufacture of ammunition for sniper weapons “could end corrupt politicians and Davos scum in one shot”.

Ruane, an audio producer who worked in films, posted images of Semtex explosive and when asked about delivery, wrote: “Why deliver when you can make it yourself.”

He called for an “IRA playbook” to be implemented after then-prime minister Boris Johnson extended powers for a further period.

The defendant also suggested destroying 5G communications, saying in one post: “5G towers are easy, Semtex, easy to make recipies (sic) on the www.”

Ms Faure Walker had said that the posts spanned many months and encouraged serious violence and disruption designed to influence the government or intimidate a section of the public.

The posts reached a “very large audience” through two Telegraph chat groups, one of which had 18,000 users and the other 8,000.

Ruane, of Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, west London, was cleared of collecting information useful to a terrorist, relating to a manual entitled Anon – How To Make A Jolly Roger which was said to include viable instructions on making Semtex.

He had denied the charges against him and claimed his film work gave him a reasonable excuse for having the manual with Semtex instructions.