Barrister fined £500 over links to ‘inappropriate and offensive’ tweets
A barrister has been fined £500 for his links to an anonymous Twitter account that put out a series of “inappropriate and offensive tweets.”
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) fined Anthony Daniel Bennett £500 for allowing the Twitter handle “@arrytuttle” to send a series of offensive tweets about fellow barrister Adam Wagner.
Bennett authorised use of the @arrytuttle Twitter account, which directed a series of tweets towards Wagner accusing him of being a “lying propagandist” amid clashes over allegations of antisemitism in the Labour party.
Bennett and Wagner had previously worked together in Doughty Street Chambers before Bennett left the barristers’ chambers following the discovery of his links to the @arrytuttle Twitter handle.
The @arrytuttle pseudonym is reportedly a reference to Robert De Niro’s character Harry Tuttle in the 1985 film Brazil.
Wagner, via Twitter, previously claimed the @arrytuttle Twitter profile waged a “campaign of anonymous abuse and harassment against me and others involved in the Labour antisemitism scandal”.
Wagner later said he was “shocked” to discover Bennett’s links to the profile “because he is a fellow barrister and a member of my chambers – and Jewish”.
Bennett denies sending inappropriate or offensive tweets from the @arrytuttle Twitter account.
Bennett was later subject to a libel lawsuit brought forward by Countdown star Rachel Riley, blogger David Collier, and actress Tracy-Ann Oberman over his alleged use of the @arrytuttle Twitter handle.