Man jailed after sending ‘menacing’ messages to Labour MP

A man who threatened to kill the prime minister and sent a flurry of “menacing” messages to a Labour MP has been jailed for 23 months.

Cambridgeshire police said Lee White sent 109 messages to Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, the MP for Tooting in south London, over a four-day period between 29 August and 1 September 2024.

White, 52, was arrested at his home in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, on 4 September last year.

Lee White, who has been sentenced to 23 months in prison.

Police said the messages contained racial abuse and threats to kill Keir Starmer and cabinet ministers.

In a police interview, White said he sent the emails because an aggravated burglary at a relative’s house “was covered up” and the messages got out of hand because he was “bored”, police said.

After being released on bail, White sent further messages – between 24 November and 26 November 2024 – to his probation officer threatening to kill everyone in the probation office with grenades and guns.

He added he would make Parkside police station in Cambridge explode.

White pleaded guilty at Cambridge crown court to sending threatening communications, harassment without violence and sending a communication conveying an offensive message, police said.

He was jailed for 23 months for the offences on Tuesday.

He also admitted sending false communication with intent to cause harm and received no separate penalty for this.

DC James Lewis, who investigated, said: “Lee White’s menacing and threatening messages to the MP and his probation officer were deeply unpleasant and disgraceful so I’m glad he’s been jailed.”

Allin-Khan has been forced to cancel in-person advice surgeries over security fears in the past after a different man had allegedly hurled “sexist and racist slurs” at the MP and attacked a member of her staff.

In October 2023, the MP temporarily called off regular face-to-face meetings with constituents while a safety review was completed.