SIMPLE Minds front-man Jim Kerr's brother claimed they weren't related as he threatened to hang his sibling's "best friend" off Brighton Pier, a court heard today.

Paul Kerr, 56, is accused of stalking John Fagan and his wife Julie because of his "hatred and bitterness" towards his rock star brother after he attended the couple's 2014 wedding in Sicily.

The former tour manager repeatedly accused hospital nurse Mr Fagan of raping a nine-year-old boy and told fans online the "super fans" were under investigation for making murder threats against him, jurors heard.

Kerr began abusing the couple after he called their new album Walk Between Worlds "pure s**t" on his public Facebook page in January last year, Lewes Crown Court was told.

He allegedly posted while the Fagans were celebrating their wedding anniversary at Jim Kerr's Hotel Villa Angela in Sicily last July: "Hey you, you f**king rapist male nurse friend of Jim Kerr of Simple Minds."

He added: "Jim Kerr who walked you through the f**king evil streets of Taormina.

"You, you b*****d hiding male nurse of Canterbury friend of Jim Kerr of Simple Minds, you harmed the only brother I have, John Ramsay yesterday.

"If police officer Joseph Donovan of Canterbury Police doesn't arrest you by the 31st of August I will cripple you both.

"John and Julie Fagan come out and apologise, save both your lives.

"If I need to come and drag you both back from Canterbury to Brighton and hang you both from Brighton pier in memory of my mother I will do so.

"Don't worry about this wee guy called Paul Kerr being arrested - no chance, what until these f**king police forces take my statement.

"Jim Kerr of Simple Minds's best friend pumped the arse of a wee boy."

Jonathan Edwards, prosecuting read more posts allegedly by Kerr and asked Julie Fagan: "So it's a threat to cripple you, it's a threat to assault you with a baseball bat, a threat to hand you from Brighton pier?"

She replied: "Yes."

The prosecutor read other posts allegedly by Kerr including: "Two great friends of my brother Jim Kerr who are both NHS nurses both who have been disowned by Simple Minds are now banned from visiting Villa Angela in Taormina where they were only married last year. Both these two individuals will be brought to court.

"Jim Kerr will be called as a witness in regards to his dispute with these two."

She claimed the abuse continued after Kerr was arrested and "warned and warned and warned" by police and that he was caught breaching his court bail conditions not to contact her and her husband in April.

Jurors heard he sent a post referring to Julie Fagan's name on her Facebook profile in April this year: "A female individual known as Ms Nagaf who also works within the mental health industry and her husband attacked me in December 2018."

The prosecutor said there was a request for readers to contact solicitors Bishop and Light.

Julie Fagan said: "He thought he was being clever because he wasn't naming us.

"He thought he could get around his bail conditions by not saying our names, but it was obvious who he was referring to and also to his audience it was obvious.

"He's being investigated by the police, he's got to come up with some excuse, he's claiming John, claiming his hacked his Facebook which is ludicrous. He's a liar.

"I was completely horrified, he's breaching his court bail this time.

"I just couldn't believe he has been warned and warned and warned no to do it and he cannot stop, he's totally obsessed and it's got to stop.

She rubbished suggestions by Paul Walker, defending Kerr, that her husband contacted his client after getting into a "spat" with Jim Kerr in December 2017.

He said Mr Fagan had complained on a Simple Minds's Facebook forum that his £190 VIP ticket for a Simple Minds concert had only got him a "goody bag and a visit to a field".

Mr Walker said: "He got a number of responses to his post on his Facebook post, including one from Jim Kerr himself.

"He got involved in a spat or a row with Jim Kerr on his Facebook page and John posted such abusive material that he was banned from posting.

"That's what led John to put a post on Paul Kerr's account.

"Because what your husband had posted was effectively his anger at the row that had gone on between him and Jim Kerr and he was asking, John was asking Paul to help destroy Jim Kerr."

Mrs Fagan said: "That's rubbish, that's crazy, that's pure rubbish."

Kerr, of Brighton, denies two counts of stalking causing fear of violence.

He also denies stalking causing alarm or distress to his ex, Elizabeth Vanthof, from April to November 2018, whom he accuses of conspiring against him with the Fagans.

The trial continues.