A man who bombarded a London MP with threatening and racist messages, including one in which he said the Prime Minister was “a legitimate target to be killed”, has been jailed.
Lee White, 52, sent Dr Rosena Allin-Khan’s parliamentary inbox more than 100 abusive emails over a four-day period last year.
The Tooting MP's office contacted police after they received a flood of offensive messages from August 29, 2024.
During a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Judge Mark Bishop told Cambridge Crown Court: “[Dr Allin-Khan] is the MP for Tooting in south London, you live in Littleport in Cambridgeshire.
“The emails were read by her communications manager [who] was concerned that the messages were violent and racist and he contacted the Parliamentary Protection Unit.
“Forty-two of the emails contained clearly racially abusive material and racially abusive opinions.
“Three emails contained a reference to the Prime Minister being a legitimate target to be killed and there are other references to members of parliament and the royal family.”
The Judge declined to read out the offensive messages in court but described them as “incoherent at times” and “plainly racist and threatening”.
He added they were “completely unacceptable and unlawful communications” and that Dr Allin-Khan “confirmed that she found the emails to be incredibly distressing and was extremely alarmed by the racism permeating” them.
It is understood that one email stated: "I believe what I say is true. It is legal to kill [Keir] Starmer and cabinet who are complicit in a police state"
Others included racist and Islamophobic language.
White said in one email: "Can we have Muslims in this country considering we have a nuclear power plants and Muslims have Muslim law.”
Judge Bishop said: “The emails do not mention Allin-Khan by name, but it is difficult to understand why you, Lee White from Littleport near Ely, should be so focussed on sending this type of message to Allin-Khan, the MP for Tooting.
“It is a reasonable inference that her ethnicity was part of the reason for the selection by you.”
The court heard White has 15 previous convictions for 26 offences, dating back to 1995. There was a gap in his offending between 1996 and 2020.
White, from Littleport, East Cambridgeshire, pleaded guilty to sending a communication conveying an indecent or offensive message to an MP at an earlier hearing.
He has also admitted harassment of a probation worker and a separate offence of sending false communications with intent to cause harassment to the Cambridge Junction theatre.
He was jailed for a total of 23 months for all the offences, including 12 months for the abusive messages sent to Dr Allin-Khan.
White has been in custody for almost 11 months, which will be counted towards his sentence.
Upon his release, Judge Bishop suggested that the probation service impose restrictions on White, including that he be subject to drug testing, attend all appointments with mental health practitioners organised for him and surrender his electronic devices to be searched if required.
White told the court: “I admit I was wrong...It won’t happen again.”
It comes as a cross-party group of MPs warned the “normalisation of abuse and intimidation” toward politicians must end.
In its final report, the Speaker’s Conference identified that public attitudes towards MPs and “inconsistencies” in the justice system have contributed to the level of abuse.
Dr Allin-Khan has previously been forced to cancel in person advice surgeries over security fears after a different man had hurled “sexist and racist slurs” at the MP and attacked a member of her staff.
In October 2023 she temporarily called off regular face-to-face meetings with constituents while a safety review was completed.
