united-kingdom england-and-wales
Cleaner leaving defamatory messages on fridge - is this a crime?
<p>Come across a situation with a friend of mine which I'm not sure is actually illegal or just really bad practice, they live in university accommodation and while all residents are out one of the staff/cleaners arranged fridge magnets into offensive messages about the residents, due to prior tension this triggered an altercation between them, has the cleaner broken a law or is this just bad practice?</p>

<h2>Defamatory and offensive are not the same</h2>

<p>“He is a child molester” is defamatory and illegal (unless he is, of course).</p>

<p>“She is a two-faced f___ing b___h with the morals of an alley cat and the integrity of a politician” is offensive and legal.</p>

<p>Neither is a crime.</p>

<p>Being "illegal" does not mean that it is a crime. It is possibly illegal, but not necessarily a crime. It could be breach of contract or defamation, neither of which are legal. The former case might not even involve the courts, and in the latter case would involve a lawsuit but not prosecution.
It might be a crime under law outlawing hate speech, <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/part/III" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Public Order Act 1986 §18</a> or especially <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/part/I" rel="nofollow noreferrer">§4a</a>
which forbids a person</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress...
  displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is
  threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing that or another
  person harassment, alarm or distress.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>The content of the message would matter.</p>
