Spared jail, troll who threatened to kill JK Rowling
- Man handed eight-week suspended sentence for sending the Harry Potter author an audio message saying he would kill her ‘with a big hammer’
- Glenn Mullen, from Manchester, also threatened Labour MP Rosie Duffield
An online troll who threatened to kill JK Rowling with a hammer and shoot an MP has avoided jail.
Glenn Mullen was given an eight-week suspended sentence for sending the Harry Potter author a Gaelic audio message in which he said he was going to kill her ‘with a big hammer’.
The 31-year-old also threatened to turn a ‘big gun’ on Labour MP Rosie Duffield. He had admitted two charges of sending a communication conveying a threatening message and was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Mullen, from Manchester, told Rowling using X: ‘I’m going to kill JK Rowling with a big hammer.
‘JK Rowling is very horrible and I hate her so much.’
Glenn Mullen was handed a suspended sentence for threatening Harry Potter author JK Rowling and Labour MP Rosie Duffield
He tweeted to Ms Duffield, who like Ms Rowling is opposed to transgender reforms, saying: ‘I’m going to kill Rosie Duffield with a big gun. I hate her so much.’
Prosecutor Frances McCormack said both of the offences related to audio messages. He added: ‘The defendant sent the voice note to each of the victims’ Twitter accounts.
‘The voice note was sent to JK Rowling in Gaelic. These were posted in public on
Twitter and the messages were reported to the police.’
The court heard someone who understood Gaelic spotted the tweets that were sent in January last year and raised the alarm.
Mr McCormack added that Ms Rowling had received a large number of threats over the past three years, but felt this one was more serious because it was an audio clip.
He went on: ‘She sets out that the threats were very specific while the choice of language was odd and as a result it made her fear for her family.
‘She has received threats such as these before and in the aftermath the threats have been acted on.’
JK Rowling was targeted by Mullen, who Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told has ‘strong views about gender equality
The Edinburgh-based author tightened the security measures she already had in place following the threat.
Meanwhile Ms Duffield, who was the Labour MP for Canterbury until last week, said she felt particularly threatened because of the murders of fellow politicians Jo Cox and Sir David Amess.
The prosecutor said: ‘She did not tell her family initially because she was scared and did not want to upset them.’
The threats came after Mullen – who had ‘strong views about gender equality’ – became frustrated at the two women. The court heard he used Gaelic ‘because he did not think anyone would be able to understand’.
He was sacked from his job after the tweets were spotted.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring said he felt there is a ‘realistic prospect of rehabilitation’ as background reports noted that the behaviour was out of character.
Mullen was sentenced to eight weeks’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months.
He will also have to complete 20 days of a community order and 150 hours of unpaid work.
