Cornwall radio host, 69, jailed for anti-Semitic broadcasting

Graham Hart's music was regularly played before matches of the Cornish Pirates

A radio host has been jailed for spreading racial hatred.

Graham Hart, of Penponds near Camborne, west Cornwall, previously admitted eight counts of producing a programme with intent to stir up racial hatred.

Judge Robert Linford said Hart, 69, "set out to whip feelings of hatred to members of the Jewish faith" with anti-Semitic rants over a four-year period.

The judge at Truro Crown Court jailed Hart for 32 months and banned him from broadcasting for ten years.

He said Hart either hosted or appeared as a guest on radio broadcasts to "abuse, vilify, insult and threaten Jewish people", converting his garage into a radio station which he used "to peddle hatred."

The court heard the broadcasts may have only been heard by about 30 people but there could be widespread dissemination by listening to archives and forwarding on the broadcasts.

Prosecutor Dan Pawson-Pounds said Hart broadcast internet radio shows, even after police started to investigate his activities.

He said Hart talked about "taking up arms" to take the country back.

Mary McCarthy, defending, said Hart read things on the internet which he came to believe and got drawn in "deeper and deeper".

She said Hart had no relevant previous convictions and the trigger for his racial hatred was "depression and obsession".

The judge dismissed that, saying Hart had "entrenched anti-Semitic feelings".