Following action from CAA, former barrister Ian Millard appears in court over five offences contrary to Communications Act

Following action from Campaign Against Antisemitism, the former barrister Ian Millard appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court today as he is set to be prosecuted for five offences contrary to section 127 (1)(a) Communications Act 2003 in relation to the posting of grossly offensive material relating to his assertions regarding the Jewish race on his blog.

The charges relate to five blog entries dated between May 2021 to April 2022. Mr Millard is said to have posted the entries to his website. The comments he is alleged to have made include:

• “Where Jews exist in any but very small numbers, non-Jews will always be exploited, and can never be free. That is as true in Europe (and including the UK) as it is in the Middle East.” 
• “Wherever Jews have power, non-Jews eventually become victims or slaves.”

In October 2016, the Bar Standards Board found Mr Millard to be guilty of professional misconduct due to his extensive use of Twitter as a vehicle to publicise his antisemitic and extreme right-wing views, leading to him being banned from the profession.

In April 2021, Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Director of Investigations and Enforcement handed a dossier of evidence collected from Mr Millard’s blog to Hampshire Police.

Nine months later, we were informed that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) would be taking no further action. This decision was challenged via the Victims’ Right to Review scheme.

In April of this year, fifteen months after the submission to the scheme was made, we were informed that the CPS intended to prosecute Mr Millard.

Mr Millard, who confirmed that he will be representing himself in court, stated that he would be entering a plea of “not guilty” and is set to face trial later this year.