A human rights barrister allegedly behind an anonymous Twitter account that harassed antisemitism campaigners has resigned. Daniel Bennett, formerly of Doughty Street Chambers, had been reportedly connected to a pro-Jeremy Corbyn Twitter account called ‘@arrytuttle’ which sent anonymous abuse to people who spoke out against antisemitism.
Adam Wagner, a fellow barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, said he was targeted by the account. He wrote on Twitter: ‘For the past year [@arrytuttle] waged a campaign of anonymous abuse and harassment against me and others involved in the Labour antisemitism issue.’
He said he was ‘shocked’ to find out that Bennett was connected to @arrytuttle because ‘he is a fellow barrister and a member of my chambers – and Jewish.’ The account had around 4,500 followers and has since been shut down.
According to Wagner’s Twitter feed, Bennett told him that ‘many people run that account and I have not been involved in it for years’. Bennett also sent a ‘fulsome apology’ saying every tweet was ‘completely unacceptable’.
According to Twitter, Bennett also told Wagner that he was part of the group which set up the account and that he had continued to access it to look at the feed but had rarely tweeted.
Wagner wrote: ‘This has been an extremely distressing experience. I get a lot of this kind of abuse from anonymous accounts but to find out this was happening in my workplace is something else.’ He declined to comment further to the Gazette.
Doughty Street Chambers confirmed that Bennett has resigned and declined to comment further. Bennett has been approached for comment.
