A HAMPSHIRE grandmother should be barred from writing letters that made recipients feel “physically sick”, a court heard.
Margaret Walker, 73, has admitted penning approximately 500 letters and sending them around the country – to MPs, pubs, businesses, parish councils and individuals.
Fareham Magistrates’ Court was told that the letters were “about as racially offensive and defamatory as it is possible to be”.
Prosecutor Julian Knowles QC told the court that Walker, of Walnut Drive, Fareham, should not be protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act – which concerns freedom of expression – to protect the public and because the letters constituted “hate speech”.
He said: “You can campaign to get Britain out of the EU, you can call Gordon Brown a liar, but you can't do it in such an extreme way that you’re actively promoting dislike of other races or faiths – and that's what Mrs Walker has done.”
Hampshire police are applying for an antisocial behaviour order to bar Walker from sending further campaign letters.
Her defence barrister, Tim Concannon, argued that Walker would be subject to a criminal prosecution if she had broken any laws.
The magistrates will decide later this month whether to grant an order.
