Twitter troll ‘embarked on campaign of hatred against Labour MP Stella Creasy’

Peter Nunn, left, is accused of threatening Stella Creasy MP (PA)

A “Twitter troll” subjected an MP to a slew of abuse after she backed a campaign to feature Jane Austen on a new banknote, a court has heard.

Peter Nunn, 33, was accused of retweeting messages threatening to rape Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, after she supported a campaign by the feminist Caroline Criado-Perez to feature a woman on the British £10 banknote.

Opening the case against the blogger from Bristol, Alison Morgan, prosecuting, told the court Mr Nunn “embarked on a campaign of hatred in various forms towards both women”, after it was revealed that the Pride and Prejudice author would be the new face of the £10 note last year.

Westminster magistrates’ court heard that the accused first began leaving offensive posts on 29 July from the Twitter account @protectys, allegedly retweeting a message which read: “You better watch your back, I’m going to rape your arse at 8pm and put the video all over.”

The prosecutor said: “It is not alleged that he created the text and the threat, but for whatever reason he chose to retweet it and it is a message that is menacing in character.”

Over several weeks, Mr Nunn is accused of sending a series of abusive messages from several Twitter accounts.

Before Ms Creasy and Ms Criado-Perez were due to appear on BBC’s Newsnight to discuss the online abuse, Mr Nunn allegedly left another tweet branding the MP an evil witch. He then allegedly sent another message from another Twitter account @eatcreasynow, which read: “Go get her, eat the meat!”

Ms Morgan added: “Two minutes before @eatcreasynow sent a message to Stella Creasy saying: ‘Hi, it took Twitter 30 minutes to ban me before. I’m here again to tell you that I’ll rape you tomorrow at 6pm’.”

Mr Nunn denies sending a message that was offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character by a public electronic network between 28 July and 5 August last year, claiming to have retweeted messages to further debate. The trial continues.