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Man convicted for setting fire to phone mast in Merseyside

There have been 13 arson attacks on phone masts in Merseyside since March

Following attacks on scores of 5G phone masts across the UK, it seems the British judiciary has finally decided to crack down.

In the first case of its kind a suspect has been convicted for setting fire to the equipment box of a phone mast in the north-western English town of Kirkby (Merseyside).

Michael Whitty, 47, who had previously admitted arson, was jailed for three years via videolink from HMP Altcourse.

The attacks on phone masts in the past three months are driven by conspiracy theories linking 5G networks to the coronavirus outbreak.

Underlining the potency of these conspiracy theories, in many cases the targeted phone masts are not even linked to 5G networks.

In this particular case, it transpired in court that Whitty believed the mast he targeted to be 5G, although there was no evidence to confirm this suspicion.

His lawyer, Andrew Alty, claimed in court that Whitty had a “genuinely held view about the masts”.

“That view may or may not be correct, time will tell”, Alty added.

According to court records, so far this year there have been 13 attacks on phone masts in Merseyside alone.  


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