LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) – A man who sent racist threats to the leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail on Monday.
Kieran Kyle, a 43-year-old former teacher from Kent, sent three emails to Badenoch in early May this year using very offensive racist language and threatening to kill her.
Days earlier he had also emailed her husband, whose address is not in the public domain, using a different racist term and saying she had a “big mouth” and he should “put a leash on her”. He also sent a second email to her husband in May.
Badenoch, 46, became the first Black woman to head a major British political party when she won a leadership contest two years ago.
In sentencing remarks, district judge Sam Goozee noted that Badenoch said she had been “profoundly impacted” by the offences, which had caused her stress and alarm for her family, while her husband had found the racial element of the messages “particularly distressing”.
“Weaponising emails to intimidate, abuse, or terrify elected officials undermines the democratic process,” Goozee said. “People who harass individuals in public life and particularly targeting their religion or race must expect deterrent sentences.”
Kyle had pleaded guilty to two counts of sending communications of an indecent or offensive nature in September.
Badenoch did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Kyle’s sentencing.
(Reporting by Sarah Young, editing by Sam Tabahriti)
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