A man has been convicted of posting a 'grossly offensive' tweet over the death of Captain Sir Tom Moore.
Joseph Kelly, 36, was arrested after the message appeared on social media following the fundraiser's death.
He admitted posting 'the only good Brit soldier is a deed one, burn auld fella, buuuuurn' on his Twitter account but denied breaching communication laws.
He was found guilty by Sheriff Adrian Cottam after a trial at Lanark Sheriff Court.
Kelly, who was reprimanded by the sheriff for laughing as he sat in the dock, did not give any evidence during the trial.
The hearing was told Kelly, of Castlemilk, Glasgow, spoke to a neighbour and said he regretted posting the tweet which was condemned by social media users.
Luzier Jeffrey, 51, said she had spoken to Kelly in the aftermath of his message being posted last February.
She said: "I was kind of shocked when I saw the tweet.
"The gentleman in question had done so much to raise awareness and funds for the NHS in England.
"I spoke to Joseph about it and, I can't remember word for word, but he said 'I have done a lot of stupid things in my time but that is one of the worst' and he said he regretted it and it was just a spur of the moment thing.
"He also told me he would take it back straight away, which he did, but unfortunately somebody had seen it.
"I was afraid of retaliation over it and so was he because addresses were being shared online about it."
Prosecutors insisted Kelly had broken communication laws and that the tweet was 'grossly offensive'.
Depute fiscal Liam Haggart said: "Captain Tom Moore had become something of a celebrity owing to his age and work he had done to support the NHS.
"If Mr Kelly had been standing at Lanark Cross and had begun shouting these comments then there would have been little difficulty in breach of the peace charges being brought against him.
"Freedom of expression does not justify him making this post.
"This was a tweet designed to be offensive and, in my view, grossly offensive which takes it beyond the necessary threshold."
But his legal team argued prosecutors had not established a case against him and that it infringed on his freedom of expression.
Cameron Smith, defending advocate, said: "This tweet does not cross the threshold into criminality.
"It is unpleasant and it is unsavoury but it is not grossly offensive.
"That is a very high bar and I say the Crown have not got over that bar in these proceedings."
Sheriff Cottam said: "I'm of the view that the focus of the tweet was not on the British army or soldiers but on the man pictured, Captain Sir Tom Moore, who had become a national hero during the early stages of the pandemic.
"The timing of the tweet makes the comment not only offensive, but grossly offensive and what the accused chose to write can only be described as that.
"The prosecution does interfere with freedom of expression but it is a necessary interference."
Sentence was deferred on Kelly until March for reports and his bail was continued.
Sir Tom, who helped raise more than £32million for the NHS during the first national lockdown, died from coronavirus and pneumonia last February aged 100.
He won the nation's hearts by walking 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire during the first lockdown, raising money for NHS Charities Together.
The Queen knighted him during a special ceremony in the grounds of Windsor Castle in 2020.
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