A Swindon woman has narrowly avoided being jailed after repeatedly labelling a Wiltshire 999s journalist a ‘paedophile’ on social media.
In posts on Facebook in January this year, Sasha McGailey abused Daniel Jae Webb in response to coverage of her criminal conviction for intimidating a witness just days earlier.
Swindon Magistrates’ Court heard how the defendant had been given a suspended prison sentence after making threats to a woman who was giving evidence against her in a harassment case.
Despite a warning from the chair of the bench about further similar behaviour likely to lead to jail time, the 36-year-old – who was heavily pregnant at the time – targeted the journalist.
She wrote: “everyone knows you’re a pedophile” and “you concentrate on your life stop being a pedophile and take a photo of little kids and leave people like me alone”.
She went on to threaten: “she’ll I put a story up about you being a pedophile”.
On 26 July, following a guilty plea to harassment, crown prosecutor Keith Ballinger told the court that Daniel found the content “upsetting and distressing”.
He added that McGailey was interviewed about the comments, and accepted she had made them; she apologised for her actions and agreed it wasn’t right to call him a paedophile.
Emma Hillier, defending, said her client “accepts that Mr Webb has the right to write news reports, but she was more upset with the comments that members of the public had put on there”.
She was “angry” and “reacted, and knows that she shouldn’t have reacted in the way that she did”.
Mr Hiller confirmed that McGailey – the sole carer of her 13-week-old baby and two children under ten – is working with the Nelson’s Trust and complying with her court orders.
“Given all of the circumstances your worships, I would ask that you consider it unjust to activate the period of imprisonment given her personal mitigation”, she added.
Magistrate Ian Montacute said committing a crime on a suspended sentence order is “very serious”.
He continued: “We have decided, however, in the circumstances, it would be unjust to activate your six-month suspended sentence. We consider it unjust because you have had a child – and it would be not good for your new 13-week-old baby or your other two children for us to activate it.”
To mark the breach of the order, the bench extended the operational period from 18 months to 24 months.
McGailey, of Welbeck Close in Walcot, was told that it’s “highly likely” the sentence will be activated if there is further offending. The court previously heard that the defendant has more than 60 previous convictions.
For harassing Daniel Jae Webb, she was fined £200 for harassment and told to pay £50 in compensation, along with £85 prosecution costs and a £80 surcharge.
In a victim personal statement, which was read out in court, he said: “I regularly face unjustified abuse and threats from members of the public, and they’re usually linked to stories I’ve covered in court.
“After publishing a court story about McGailey’s trial and subsequent conviction for intimidating a witness, she targeted me less than 24 hours later – labelling me a paedophile both publicly on my own social media and via a direct message.
“After being handed a suspended prison sentence in that case, she was told she would “most likely” go to prison if she committed any similar crimes.
“She was also told: “Be careful how you live your life going forward”.
“It is clear that McGailey doesn’t respect the law, or orders of the court. Her comments, which were likely seen by hundreds of members of the public, caused me significant concern and distress.
“I was very worried people would target me if they believed her comments to be true.
“I have a thick skin, but I should not be subject to abuse for reporting on public court proceedings.
“It is vital that the public are kept up to date about ongoings in their local courts and without the press, the public would rarely know when justice is served.”
