Northampton man, 54, jailed over trolling MP Andrew Lewer, former police chief and judges online

A Northampton man has been sentenced to 21 weeks in prison over online posts referring to two judges, a former police chief, a detective and local MP Andrew Lewer.

Andrew Charles Wardle, aged 54, of Norfolk Terrace failed to appear for a hearing on April 5 — a year after pleading not guilty to nine charges of sending by means of public electronic communications network a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character towards a total of eight people during 2019.

Northampton magistrates found all nine charges were proved in his absence.

He was in court two days later to hear sentences of between 10 and 20 weeks for each charge, served concurrently, plus a further seven days for failing to surrender to custody with magistrates ruling the offences were “a deliberate attack on a public servant carrying out public duties.”

According to court documents, Wardle was made subject to a restraining order forbidding him from contacting any of the alleged victims — which included now retired Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Simon Edens — plus others, nor displaying any material on any website or social media which would identify any of the individuals.

Wardle was also ordered to remove the websites within 14 days of release from custody.