Disgraced Claudia Webbe was spared jail today after threatening to throw acid at a friend of her boyfriend.
The MP was handed a suspended 10-week sentence and 200 hours' community service after leaving her victim scared to answer the door.
The 56-year-old, who lost the Labour whip 14 months ago, was today expelled from Labour Party membership.
A by-election could be triggered in her seat of Leicester East after a magistrate condemned her “callous and intimidatory” behaviour.
But that will not be possible for months under Commons rules unless she chooses to resign - meaning she remains an MP.
Labour’s National Campaign Co-Ordinator Shabana Mahmood said: “She should do the right thing by the people of Leicester and resign her seat.”
Westminster Magistrates’ Court Webbe made a string of threatening phone calls to Michelle Merritt between September 1 2018 and April 26 2020.
In one, Webbe called Ms Merritt, 59, "a slag", threatened her with acid and warned she would send naked pictures and videos to her daughters.
In another call Webbe repeatedly warned the victim to "get out of my relationship" with partner Lester Thomas.
The court heard Webbe caused psychological harm. Ms Merritt considered moving home and started getting taxis to work due to feeling unsafe.
Reading a statement from behind a curtain to shield herself from Webbe, Ms Merritt told the court: "She has made me feel very vulnerable, in public, in my own home. I was scared to go to my door.
"I had many sleepless nights. I would like to feel safe again.”
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Ms Merrit added: “I don't know what she is capable of."
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring branded Webbe's behaviour "callous and intimidatory”, telling her: "You were jealous of the relationship between Lester Thomas and Michelle Merritt, and probably felt in some way threatened by it."
He added Webbe "showed little remorse or contrition" and would have been jailed if it was not for her previous good character.
Webbe was ordered to pay £3,128 in costs and surcharges.
Her defence barrister, Paul Hynes QC, said his client was "in significant personal debt" pre-dating her time as an MP.
She offered to pay the fine in £100 increments every 28 days.
But the chief magistrate said that was "not going to cut it" for someone on Webbe's salary, and ordered it be paid within six months.
The sentence is set trigger a recall petition in Leicester East. If the petition is signed by 10% or more of eligible voters in the seat, it will trigger a by-election. She would be allowed to stand in any by-election but not for the Labour Party.
But Webbe has declared she will appeal - and a recall petition cannot triggered until all appeals have been exhausted.
That suggests Webbe will remain an independent MP for now unless she resigns - despite a criminal conviction.
MPs are only automatically booted out of Parliament, skipping a recall petition, if they are jailed for a year or more.
Leicester East has been held by Labour since 1987 but the party’s majority was slashed from 22,428 to 6,019 in the 2019 election.
Its MP for three decades was Keith Vaz, who stepped down ahead of the 2019 election, three years after the Sunday Mirror revealed he paid escorts for sex.
Webbe, from Islington, north London, had denied harassment, claiming she only made "courtesy calls" to warn Ms Merritt not to breach Covid laws by meeting Mr Thomas.
The court heard Webbe had referred to herself as "the victim" four times during her testimony during the trial.
She said after the sentencing: "I am very disappointed by the decision of the magistrate and want to strongly reiterate that I am innocent.
"I am lodging an appeal and despite today's sentence I fully expect the appeal to be granted and that, ultimately, it will be successful.
"Throughout this process I have received numerous threats to my life and vile racist abuse. The cowards responsible for these attacks will not deter me from clearing my name."
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell and former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott were among those providing character witnesses for the Webbe.
But Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring found her guilty of harassment, saying he found her to be “vague, incoherent and at times illogical and ultimately … untruthful."
