A man who used social media to falsely label criminals has been found guilty of harassment.
Paul Hendry made the inaccurate claims about innocent people from the Merseyside area on Twitter and YouTube under the handle ‘Art Hostage’.
One such incident saw the 59-year-old from Pevensey Bay near Eastbourne allege that a man from Birkenhead in his 40s was a ‘drug and gun lord’.
Hendry also claimed the man was implicated in a spate of recent shootings in the Merseyside area by accusing him of supplying firearms to the assailants.
But Wirral Magistrates Court found there was no truth in the statements that were broadcast to a combined 18,200 people on the social media platforms.
Merseyside Police were first alerted to Hendry’s ‘Art Hostage’ online persona in September last year when he shifted focus to a series of recent murders.
He passed on the names of people he believed to be involved, apparent motives and alleged facts which caused several issues in the communities where the murders had taken place.
A Cease and Desist Order was issued over his social media posts about the killing of Olivia Pratt-Korbel amid fears they would prejudice the trial of Thomas Cashman, the man later convicted of the nine-year-old’s murder.
Hendry broadcasted a live YouTube post about the notice and promised to abide by it, which he did.
However, the following month, he was found to be commenting on another Merseyside murder case, naming people he claimed were involved.
The unfounded information led to one man being assaulted.
In November 2022, Merseyside Police received a 999 call from the victim in this case, stating that a man known as ‘Art Hostage’ had uploaded a video to YouTube accusing him of being a “high level gangster” and implicating him in a Merseyside murder.
The video included details of the victim’s name, address and business. Hendry told his followers to “look into” the victim.
On 24 November 2022, a warrant was issued for Hendry’s arrest and he was later charged with harassment and sending via a public electronic communications network, a message that he knows to be false for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another.
Hendry defended himself by saying his victim would not be caused distress because he was a “scumbag criminal” and that he had information about him from a number of sources including from law enforcement agencies.
Enquiries were made by the police and other law enforcement agencies and no such intelligence was found.
On Thursday, Hendry was found guilty of harassment after a trial at Wirral Magistrates Court and was fined £250. He must also pay costs of £660 and a victim surcharge of £100. He was acquitted of the second offence.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Thomas Hanlon of CPS Mersey Cheshire said: “Paul Hendry claims to be a form of crime journalist.
“But his social media posts were nothing but fiction claiming to be fact and caused real problems for those involved.
“He creates this content to raise the profile of his social media and YouTube channels, feeding his ego, reckless as to the collateral damage his content causes and without conducting due diligence on the information received.
“Spurious allegations such as these cause real problems for our communities and ongoing investigations by the police.
“They can also endanger the trial process for the Crown Prosecution Service and the Courts.
“This victim had nothing to do with the crimes Hendry accused him of being connected with.
“His course of conduct implicating the man with high level organised crime, firearms and drug dealing is criminal and he has now been found guilty.”