British court overturns sentence of man ordered to read classic lit

The British government has successfully appealed a judge’s decision to order a defendant to read rather than serve time in jail.

The Guardian reports that Ben John had been found guilty of possessing a record likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

A judge gave him a two-year suspended prison sentence and told him to read classic literature, rather than violent texts, and report back on his reading.

The government appealed this decision to a higher court, which ruled that John would have to serve at least two-thirds of the sentence.

For what it's worth, while John did tell his previous judge that he liked Jane Austen but preferred William Shakespeare, the government lawyers arguing for a tougher sentence noted that John continued to engage with Nazi-themed online content.

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