Abusive tweets landed a barrister in trouble
(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)A barrister has been fined £500 over abusive tweets from an anonymous Twitter account which were directed at a colleague in his chambers.
Daniel Bennett resigned from Doughty Street Chambers in central London after his ties to the account were exposed, and he has now been censured by his professional regulator.
“These anonymous tweets were seriously and personally offensive in content,” said a Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service ruling. “He accepts [they] crossed the line for acceptable communication and that his failure to act was the result of a significant loss of perspective on his part.”
The case centred on abusive and harassing messages aimed at barrister Adam Wagner on Twitter, from the anonymous account @arrytuttle.
Mr Wagner — who had questioned the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s response to anti-Semitism — was called a “lying propagandist who brings shame on our entire community with his smears”.
In a string of messages between September 2018 and June 2019, he was accused of being “an absolute danger and a hater of Leftist Jews” and of presenting “fraudulent stories”.
In one tweet, the account wrote: “I think we can conclude from this thread that Adam Wagner hates Leftist Jews, is determined to target Leftist Jews as ‘anti-Semites’ and demands that anyone else cease associating with Leftist Jews, or be deemed an ‘anti-Semite’ by association. Adam has gone full fash propaganda.”
Mr Bennett admitted professional misconduct and was issued with a £500 fine. He told the tribunal he had not written the tweets but was part of a group of people with access to the account and “allowed” the messages to be published.
Mr Wagner said the messages caused “considerable anxiety and unwelcome attention”, and he was shocked to discover a member of his own barristers chambers was involved.
Mr Bennett told the tribunal the tweets “reflected his own strongly held views”, but he “could and should have stopped them appearing”. The barrister, who was called to the Bar in 2000, resigned from Doughty Street in 2019 and is now practising in Bristol.
