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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Nazia Parveen North of England correspondent

Man arrested for alleged death threats against Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper speaks during a Labour party Vote Remain event in June 2016
Cooper speaks during a Labour party Vote Remain event in June 2016, around the time the treats were made on Twitter. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA

A man has been arrested after death threats were allegedly made towards Labour MP Yvette Cooper.

The 59-year-old was detained by West Yorkshire police on Friday.

Detectives said the man from Leeds was arrested in Castleford and has since been bailed.

A Labour Party member, who did not wish to be named, said several police officers had been present at a constituency party meeting on Friday evening as a precaution.

Those attending the meeting in Airedale were asked to show their membership cards to officers as they arrived, he said.

Cooper received a threat against the lives of her family in June 2016, shortly after the murder of MP Jo Cox.

The former cabinet minister, MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, received the threat via her Twitter account.

It accused her of sending pro-EU “propaganda”, adding: “Please stop or I will kill your kids and grandkids.”

The threat followed the murder of Cox, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, by Thomas Mair, a week before the EU referendum vote.

Mair was jailed for the rest of his life after an Old Bailey trial that heard he was obsessed with Nazism and ideas of white supremacy.

In regards to the alleged threat against Cooper, West Yorkshire police said: “As a result of information received in relation to alleged threats against a serving MP, officers arrested a 59-year-old Leeds man in Castleford on Friday.

“He has been bailed pending further advice from the Crown Prosecution Service.”

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