Amid rising safety concerns for politicians across the country, 46-year-old Wayne Stimson threatened to carry a knife into the surgery of MP Shailesh Vara in Peterborough, whose staff received threat from Stimson in a malicious message.
Stimson, who once stalked and harassed Singer/Actor Robbie Williams, targeted Mr Vara after he was told there no room at a surgery meeting on September 29 last year, where he had demanded to see the MP. Stimson was charged with sending menacing messages over an aggressive phone call and voicemail message which was received by the MP Vara's staff on October 6. He was convicted after a trial where he had pleaded not guilty. He managed to avoid the jail and was given a 12-month community order last month. He was also ordered to pay costs of £200 and a victim surcharge of £85.
When Stimson was told to wait, he threatened to “take a gun into Peterborough city centre and shoot people” and said that he will bring a knife into the MP's surgery.
Mr Vara has been MP for North West Cambridgeshire since 2005 and is currently the Parliamentary Under-Secretary in the Northern Ireland Office.
This comes at a time when there are renewed concerns about the safety of politicians in wake of the Jo Cox murder and the stabbing of MP Stephen Timms in 2010.
More than 350 MPs have undergonesecurity assessments by The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA), a system put in place in the wake of the murder of Jo Cox, MPs can ask police to assess their security needs away from the Commons. However, there is a concern regarding the resistance in accepting measures that could protect the MPs and their staff. IPSA pays for security equipment such as alarm systems, CCTV and personal alarms at constituency offices and homes. It will also fund any 'enhanced measures' if the police recommends. The authority's spending on security has gone up from £160,000 in 2015-16 to £6 million last year.
