Man, 35, denies posting ‘grossly offensive’ tweet about Captain Sir Tom Moore a day after hero’s death
A MAN has today denied posting an offensive message about hero Captain Sir Tom Moore the day after his tragic death.
Joseph Kelly, 35, allegedly sent the 'menacing' Twitter post the day after the war veteran passed away aged 100 following a Covid battle.
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Prosecutors claim the tweet was 'grossly offensive' or of an 'indecent, obscene or menacing character'.
Kelly, of Glasgow, was not present when his case was called at Lanark Sheriff Court today.
Archie Hill, defending, pleaded not guilty on his behalf.
Sir Tom, who helped raise more than £32million for the NHS during the first national lockdown, died from coronavirus and pneumonia earlier this month aged 100.
He won the nation's hearts by walking 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire last year during the first lockdown, raising money for NHS Charities Together.
He was knighted by the Queen in July in a special ceremony at Windsor Castle.
His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore today slammed "vile" trolls who targeted their family during his fundraising mission.
She said she shielded her dad from months of online abuse because it would've "broken his heart".
In an interview shown on BBC Breakfast, Hannah said: “I think it would have broken his heart honestly if we’d said to him people are hating us.
"I couldn’t tell him.
"Because how do you rationalise to a 100-year-old man that something so incredibly good can attract such horror.
"So we contained it within the four of us and we said we wouldn’t play to […] that vile minority, we wouldn’t play to them, we’re not because we are talking to the massive majority of people who we connect with.”
Hannah also revealed her father's poignant final moments.
She said: “I said to him in the last few days, 'So what do you want to eat when you come home?' and we decided it was steak and chips.
"He was really excited about coming out for steak and chips and getting his frame back outside and his walker.
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"The last real conversation was positive and about carrying on and that's a lovely place to be.”
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Mrs Ingram-Moore told the BBC that when her dad went into hospital they "believed he'd come back out".
She added: "We thought the oxygen would help, that he would be robust enough, [but] the truth is he just wasn’t. "He was old and he just couldn’t fight it.”
