Emma Lewell-Buck: MP's home 'like a fortress' after threats

Emma Lewell-Buck has been MP for South Shields since winning a by-election in 2013

An MP says her home is "like a fortress" with the security devices she has had to install following threats to staff at her office.

Emma Lewell-Buck, the Labour MP for South Shields, says she has cameras, alarms and special locks on the doors.

A man pleaded guilty last month to causing harassment, alarm or distress to her office manager and secretary.

Meanwhile, Darlington MP Peter Gibson has had excrement pushed through the letterbox of his constituency office.

The Conservative said CCTV evidence had been passed to Durham Police after the discovery by staff on Wednesday morning.

Peter Gibson says "you have to have a pretty tough skin" as an MP

Although Ms Lewell-Buck, 43, was not at her office in South Shields at the time of the incident last month, she said such situations were not unusual.

The perpetrator, Dylan Thompson, admitted to attempted criminal damage as well as the harassment charge.

But he failed to turn up at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court for sentencing this week, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

"I don't think there is a single female MP I have spoken to whose house is not like a fortress," Ms Lewell-Buck told BBC Radio Newcastle.

"We have all got cameras, all got alarms, all got special locks on the doors. I have got an alarm at my bedside and one by my front door.

"No-one wants to live like that just from being a public servant and serving your community."

'Just disgusting'

The incidents come in the wake of Conservative MP Sir David Amess being stabbed to death at his constituency office in Essex in October.

Mr Gibson told BBC Radio Tees "you have to have a pretty tough skin" as an MP and said he would not be "intimidated".

The 46-year-old has never been physically attacked, but he has suffered abuse on social media and suggested the use of excrement may have been linked to Tuesday's vote in Parliament on new Covid measures.

Nearly 100 Tory MPs voted against the government's plans to introduce Covid pass rules for England - including requiring proof of double-vaccination, or a recent negative test, to enter certain venues - but Mr Gibson voted with the government.

• Covid pass starts in England despite Tory rebellion

"My staff arrived and discovered some scumbag had posted excrement through the letterbox, which is disgusting," he said.

"I've got nothing to suggest it was a personal attack on me other than we had a controversial vote in Parliament yesterday, but democracy is such that was the decision that was taken.

"So if someone is angry with me I can understand people's anger and frustration, but people can write to me or meet with me. To perpetrate a mindless act is just disgusting."