Hate Crime or Freedom of Speech?

I don’t think of myself as prudish or conservative in most aspects of y life, however then I read an article and can’t help but feel outraged. www.UPI.com featured an article called Aloud_blogger_appears_in_court. Apparently, there is an all girl pop group called Girl Aloud in England. A man, Darryn Walker, is accused of violating England’s obscenity law, Obscene Publications Act, by blogging about the fictional rape and murder of this all girl pop group. This blogged fiction is about 12 pages long, and features the kidnapping, rape, multination, and murder of the girls. This case is considered the first real test of the act since pornography has become so readily available via the Internet; it also appears to be the first case involving the written word.

This caught my attention because as I said I don’t want hinder freedom of speech, and I accept different standards for those in the public eye. But is it just me, or is this blogged fiction hate speech? Of course I also consider rape a hate crime. (Definitions are taken from Dictionary.Reference.com).