Famous transphobe Julie Bindel has again threatened a trans person on Twitter with an action in defamation. I think this is probably all talk and no trousers, but nevertheless it has caused the trans person concerned some alarm and distress. Bindel is in the habit of this sort of thing.
The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 prohibits a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of one or more people if one knows or ought to know that the conduct involves harassment of those persons and if the conduct is with the aim of persuading a person not to do something he is entitled to d, or to do something he is under no obligation to do.
S7(2) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 “references to harassing a person include alarming the person or causing the person distress.”
S7(3)(b) of the Act defines course of conduct as ”in the case of conduct in relation to two or more persons (see section 1(1A)), conduct on at least one occasion in relation to each of those persons.]”
Unjustified threats of legal action can be harassment. Worthington & Anor v Metropolitan Housing Trust Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 1125
If Bondel is trying to persuade trans people not to speak out on Twitter with legal threats, is she committing an offence?