Jail threat for conspiracy theorist who plagued Brighton anti-lockdown campaigner

A conspiracy theorist has been banned from contacting the woman he ran a leading anti-lockdown organisation with after he bombarded her with messages.

Louise Creffield broke down at Brighton Magistrates Court yesterday after Philip Graham, 34, was told he could only contact her to sever their professional relationship.

Ms Creffield, 35, told the court he had started sending her the first of hundreds of messages just 20 minutes after Hastings Family Court had issued the order telling him not to get in touch with her on 9 December last year.

He was then living on the Old Shoreham Road in Hove.

Prosecuting, Victoria Grey said: “The defendant and the victim were in a short relationship from December 2020 to November 2021.

“He initially lived in Bicester but moved to Brighton.

“It became apparent that the relationship was not compatible but Miss Creffield was afraid to end the relationship.

“He began to smoke cannabis a lot in her address, even though he told her he had given this up.

“In November, she sent him a text message ending the relationship. She reported that he had been harassing her … his bail conditions set in cc not to contact her.

“On 9 December, a non molestation order was granted by Hastings Magistrates Court.

“On 13 December, within 20 minutes of him being informed the order was imposed, Miss Creffield received a message to say he had applied to have it cancelled.

“She was then bombarded with messages.”

She added: “Louise Creffield and the defendant are in a group chat for work purposes but he’s unable to message her directly through this.

“Due to working together and the makeup of the team, she can’t remove him from the group.”

Defending, Cathy Walker said Graham now accepted the relationship was over.

She said: “It’s his plan to move as far away as possible. His use of Telegram and other social medial such as Facebook may cause him issues in future.”

District Judge Amanda Kelly told Graham: “Initially this order came as a surprise to you and you didn’t recognise the significance of it.

“While the messages did have a very profound effect on Miss Creffield, they are not threatening in themselves and they did not include threats of physical harm.

“You need to leave this lady alone to get on with her life. I can see she’s dreadfully fearful of you.”

She sentenced him to 46 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and participate in 15 sessions of rehabilitation activity.

She also passed a five-year restraining order preventing him from contacting Miss Creffield directly or indirectly, except through solicitors for the purposes of severing their mutual business interests.

The three companies they ran together include Save Our Rights UK Ltd, one of the most high-profile anti-lockdown organisations in the UK. Graham joined as a director in June 2021 and resigned as a director in mid-November.

They are also the only directors of two more companies, Politicise Ltd and Autarki Social Ltd. Graham remains as director of both of these.

On Companies House, Politicise Ltd’s nature of business is listed as “manufacture of other general-purpose machinery not elsewhere classified”. It is wholly owned by Graham, and its address is the same terraced house in Bicester he told the court he is currently living at.

Its website, which was previously linked to from the Save Our Rights UK website, said it was a political engagement platform. The url, www.politicise.uk, now redirects to the Save Our Rights website.

Autarki Social Ltd is behind the Autarki social networking site, which is promoted on the Save Our Rights UK website. Membership costs £2 a month or £20 a year.

It is co-owned by Ms Creffield and Graham.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Graham is now a software engineer for Ickonic Media Group, which is owned by David Icke’s son and runs a website hosting conspiracy theories by David Icke and other “alternative” media figures.