Martlesham man guilty of threatening to 'beat racism' out of solicitor
Jelani Jones was convicted of a number of offences at Ipswich Crown Court - Credit: Charlotte Bond
A Martlesham man accused of sending threatening emails and letters has been convicted of five offences by a jury.
Before Ipswich Crown Court is 41-year-old Jelani Jones, of Top Street, Martlesham.
He denied three offences of sending an electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety, intimidating a witness in court proceedings by sending a threatening email and two offences of sending a letter with intent to cause distress or anxiety.
He was found guilty of sending a threatening email to a policeman by an 11-1 majority verdict and unanimously guilty of trying to intimidate a solicitor by sending a threatening email.
He was also convicted of sending two other threatening emails by 11-1 majority verdicts and was unanimously found guilty of sending a threatening letter.
The jury will continue its deliberations on Wednesday (July 13) in respect of a remaining charge of sending a threatening letter.
During the trial it was alleged that over the course of a year Jones sent a number of emails and letters containing threats to people he had dealings with including a solicitor, a police officer and his mother, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
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“The prosecution say it was his intention to cause these individuals distress or anxiety,” said James Onalaja, prosecuting.
Mr Onalaja said Jones sent a police officer emails in 2019 accusing him of being a racist and threatening to degrade him and his family.
He had also sent an email to a solicitor threatening that bricks would be thrown through “every single window of his home” and threatening to “beat racism out of him”.
Jones, who represented himself during the trial, admitted sending the emails and letters but claimed he’d been suffering from extreme stress and post-traumatic stress disorder and was a victim of the Windrush scandal and a government hostile environment policy.
