Man who threatened to kill a Labour MP spared jail

Ozgay Chevat admitted the offence of racially aggravated harassment with fear of violence

A man who made threats to kill the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton in a string of racist voicemails has been spared jail.

Ozgay Chevat, of Acton, west London, left Rupa Huq 16 voicemails on 19 March in which he made racial slurs and said: "I am going to kill you."

The 50-year-old, who was given a suspended sentence at Westminster Magistrates' Court, was told he came "very close" to being jailed.

Representing himself, Chevat said: "I can't justify any of the words that were just said then because it is absolutely atrocious. All I can say is at the time I had a severe mental health breakdown."

Rupa Huq has been the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton since May 2015

During the hearing, prosecutor David Burns read some of the voicemails to the court.

In one, Chevat, who lives in Ms Huq's west London constituency, said: "We are going to get angry with you, don't think you can hide, you can only hide so long."

He also called Ms Huq a "Bengali Tamil tiger" and said she was "infiltrating London".

Threats to her family were also made.

'On a different level'

In her victim impact statement, Ms Huq said she was "deeply distressed" by the voicemails which she listened to that morning.

"I was shaken with the contents and I have not properly processed these threats," she said.

"This has shocked our office and although I have in the past received threatening messages, this is on a different level and is far more serious."

The Labour MP received 16 threatening voicemails within 10 hours on 19 March this year

Chevat pleaded guilty to the offence of racially aggravated harassment with fear of violence under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 on August 27.

Sentencing Chevat, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram, said: "A lot of people who have high-profile jobs are thinking twice about doing it.

"For an MP to receive death threats, not only to herself but also to her family, makes this a most serious case. It has to be seen in the context of other attacks on other MPs who have lost their lives.

"They have no idea whether the person making those threats is for real, they don't know whether a person has mental illness.

"She worries for herself, her family and her staff. She is a public servant carrying out her duties."

Chevat, of Horn Lane, was sentenced to 16 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to undertake up to 25 days of rehabilitation activity and pay £213 in costs and surcharge.