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Anonymous UK 'leader' fined for revealing ID of rape complainant

Man cleared of charges ranted a bit too much in online vid

The leader of notorious 'hacktivist' group Anonymous UK has been fined £400 for identifying the woman who accused him of rape.

Malcolm Blackman, 48, was accused of twice attacking the woman at the Occupy London protest camp outside St Paul's Cathedral in January 2013.

He stood trial at the Old Bailey later that year but was cleared by a jury after more than 11 hours of deliberations.

Blackman vehemently denied the charges, claiming they had been cooked up by disgruntled Occupy members who wanted to remove him as leader. In a video posted online about the case, however, he included enough detail for viewers to identify the woman who had accused him.

As a complainant in a rape case she is entitled to automatic lifetime anonymity under law, which remains in place despite the not guilty verdicts.

Blackman appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court to admit identifying her in the video. He was given a £400 fine and ordered to pay the woman £65 compensation, as well as a £40 victim surcharge and £25 costs.

The video was posted online between July last year and January this year, the court heard.

During his trial, it was revealed Blackman kept a tally chart of the women he had slept with since starting the protest camp in October 2011.

"It was my idea", he told jurors. "But it was just five marks. There were no names. It was meant to be a lads' joke. It was just for morale - to keep people laughing, keep people smiling."

It was just for the boys.

The woman had been in a relationship with Blackman but accused him of raping her when she had passed out drunk. She said he attacked her again a week later while she was sleeping.

But the anarchist claimed his victim had invented the attacks out of spite when she learned he had enjoyed a one-night stand with another Occupy protester.

The woman also claimed during her evidence that Blackman had bound her wrists with cable ties for a "sex attack", but he pointed out the ties were not long enough to go around wrists.

After his acquittal, Blackman complained the publicity from the case had ruined his career as a street entertainer, and said members of Anonymous UK had grown tired of his leadership.

"They saw me too much as a leader and dictator," he said. "They felt I spent too much time in the media and was doing it for my own ego."

The Occupy London protest lasted for four months before it was broken up by police in riot gear in February 2014.

London-born Blackman, now of Kingsbridge Avenue, Mapperley, Nottingham, and previously of Gloucester Street, Weston-super-Mare, denied two counts of rape.

He pleaded guilty to identifying a sex offence complainant, contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 1992, at the first hearing. ®

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