Sheffield woman Katie Bell who trolled grieving widow jailed

Katie Bell was described by a judge as a "coward"

An online troll who carried out a campaign of abuse against a grieving widow after breaching an order to stop has been jailed for 15 months.

Katie Bell, 27, was given a suspended jail sentence in 2021 for the abusive comments and threats directed at people on social media.

But despite the order, she resumed her behaviour months later.

Jailing her, Recorder Andrew Smith MBE described her as "cowardly", the Sheffield Star reported.

Bell, of Stradbroke Road, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to two breaches of a restraining order, breaching a suspended sentence order and a further charge of malicious communications on Twitter and Instagram.

Police appeal targeted

In a statement read out at Sheffield Crown Court, one of her victims detailed the distress Bell had subjected her to, including comments about her late husband.

Bell posted a number of comments on news articles paying tribute to the woman's husband following his sudden death, including one which said: "Serves him right".

The court was told this took place despite the suspended sentence and a restraining order.

The malicious communication offence related to a number of inflammatory comments she made on the social media pages of various news outlets and police forces, the court was told.

One such comment was made in response to an appeal to find a missing 15-year-old girl published by Merseyside Police in November 2022, under which Bell posted: "Serves her right if she is dead."

Recorder Smith said he did not think there was a risk of her going around "confronting anybody".

He added: "I don't think that's the sort of person you are. You are too cowardly for that, you just sit behind a computer and wind people up."