Alison Chabloz has anti-Semitic songs conviction upheld

Alison Chabloz claimed the prosecution was an attempt to limit her free speech

A blogger found guilty of broadcasting "grossly offensive" anti-Semitic songs has had her conviction upheld.

Alison Chabloz, 54, from Glossop, Derbyshire, wrote three songs mocking the Holocaust and sang them online.

In May she was convicted of three charges relating to the songs and was given a suspended jail sentence by magistrates which she appealed against.

A judge at Southwark Crown Court has upheld her conviction ruling the content was "particularly repellent".

The original case led to scuffles outside court

In the songs Chabloz suggested the Holocaust was "a bunch of lies" and referred to Auschwitz as a "theme park".

Chabloz was convicted of two counts of sending an offensive, indecent or menacing message through a public communications network and a third charge relating to a song on YouTube.

She was sentenced to 20 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for two years and banned from social media for 12 months.

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During the appeal Adrian Davies, defending, told judge Christopher Hehir: "It would be a very, very strong thing to say that a criminal penalty should be imposed on someone for singing in polemical terms about matters on which she feels so strongly.

"I would simply ask the court to find that however offensive her lyrics might have been to some, they do not cross the line to the grossly offensive."

In his ruling, Judge Hehir said Chabloz was "manifestly anti-Semitic", a "Holocaust denier" and "utterly obsessed with what she perceives to be the wrongdoing of Jews".

The case started as a private prosecution by the Campaign Against Antisemitism before the Crown Prosecution Service took over.

The group's chairman, Gideon Falter, said: "This is the first conviction in the UK over Holocaust denial on social media.

"Many brave British patriots died in the cause of defeating the Nazis. Alison Chabloz is no patriot and her actions defending the Nazis and claiming that the Holocaust was a fraud seek to defile their sacrifice."

Chabloz, who described herself as a Holocaust revisionist, said her music was "satire".