2 charged for racist social media video targeting UK minister Priti Patel

Two men were charged on Wednesday with sending a grossly offensive message related to a racist social media video targeting UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Jake Henderson, 28, and Robert Cumming, 26, said the charges followed complaints about the video directed at the senior 49-year-old Indian-origin Cabinet minister in January this year.

The duo were summonsed to court on May 29 and are next due to appear at Mansfield Magistrates' Court in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands region of England, on June 29.

''Following complaints in relation to a video targeted at Home Secretary Priti Patel and posted on social media in January 2021, the CPS has authorised Nottinghamshire Police to charge Jake Henderson and Robert Cumming with sending a grossly offensive message by a public communication network," said Janine Smith, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East Midlands.

"The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider," Smith said.

She said the proceedings against Henderson and Cumming are active and nothing should be published or shared online that could in any way jeopardise the defendants' right to a fair trial.

The pair has been charged under Section 127 of the UK's Communications Act. No further details of the video or the case can now be reported on ahead of the court hearing.

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