Two People Charged With Sending Offensive Tweets To Feminist Campaigner

    Caroline Criado-Perez was allegedly targetted by a man and a woman from the north east.

    Jim Waterson
    by Jim Waterson

    BuzzFeed News Reporter, UK

    Two individuals have been charged in relation to offensive tweets allegedly sent to feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez.

    Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

    Criado-Perez gained attention in July after launching a successful campaign to include a woman on a future British bank note.

    She was then subject to a bombardment of allegedly malicious tweets, which led to hefty criticism of Twitter's policy towards offensive users and briefly dominated the news agenda in August.

    After careful consideration of all the available evidence, the CPS has today authorised the Metropolitan Police to charge two suspects in relation to messages allegedly sent to Caroline Criado-Perez.Isabella Sorley, 23, from Newcastle and John Nimmo, 25, from South Shields have both been charged with improper use of a communications network under Section 127 of the Communications Act.

    They will have to travel down from their homes in the north east to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 7 January 2014.

    Labour MP Stella Creasy, who helped with the campaign, also received offensive tweets.

    Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Creasy (second from right) helped Criado-Perez (right) convince Bank of England governor Mark Carney (centre) that Jane Austen should appear on the £10 note.

    In the aftermath, Creasy allegedly received abusive tweets from a third suspect. But while CPS has decided that "there was sufficient evidence that an offence had been committed", it did not feel that prosecution would be in the public interest.

    Two other individuals were arrested as part of the same inquiry.

    The CPS concluded that it was not in the public interest to prosecute the fourth suspect, who allegedly sent offensive messages to Criado-Perez.

    Police are continuing to investigate a fifth suspect before deciding whether to charge them.