A COVID denier who suggested “whacking” Professor Sir Chris Whitty on social media has been jailed for five years.
Patrick Ruane, 55, was found guilty of two charges of encouraging terrorism in a series of social media posts following a trial at the Old Bailey.
Judge Richard Marks KC said Ruane’s messages were “extremely dangerous” during a volatile time.
Ruane had a “compulsive and obsessive” mindset about the vaccines, he said, and often posted the messages while “blind drunk”.
“The overwhelming view around the world was that the vaccines were hugely effective in saving lives. You and others, however, did not share that opinion,” he added.
“You were, of course, fully entitled to publicly vent your views and to do so in an extremely cogent and forceful way, if you chose.
“You, however, went very much further and in so doing committed the offences of which you were convicted.”
The court previously heard Ruane targeted individuals such as Sir Chris and the chief executive officer of COVID vaccine developer Pfizer in a series of Telegram posts during 2021.
Replying to a post about Sir Chris, Ruane said: “The weakest point of the scull [sic] is the back of the scull [sic] and all it would take is riding a bike very fast and whacking target over the back of head with a rounders bat but a mace would be way better.”
He said it “would turn said target into a vegetable for the rest of its life”.
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‘It’s not going to stop until we start killing them back’
Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker said Ruane was “angry, frustrated and upset” about COVID lockdown policies and the rollout of the vaccine.
She said he believed conspiracy theories about a “hidden agenda” and was focused on those who manufactured the COVID vaccine and administered jabs.
In one post he said he was “all for hunting them down and f****** executing them,” adding “too many people” had died and “it’s not going to stop until we start killing them back”.
In another he suggested burning “all the big pharmas’ offices, manufacturing plants and infrastructure” to the ground.
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Ms Faure Walker said the posts encouraged violence and disruption designed to influence the government or intimidate a section of the public.
She said the posts reached a “very large audience” through two Telegram chat groups.
Ruane denied the charges against him and was cleared of collecting information useful to a terrorist.
