Two men have been jailed for throwing bricks through the window of an MP’s constituency office.
Colin Dodds and Alan Dent threw bricks through the windows of the office of Helen Goodman, the Bishop Auckland Labour MP, on April 6.
Dent, 50, of Co-operative Street, Shildon, admitted a charge of criminal damage, but claimed he did not deliberately target the MP’s office and that he threw the brick after losing his temper.
Dodds, 44, of Douthwaite Road, Bishop Auckland, denied the charge but was found guilty following a trial at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Dent was jailed for eight weeks while Dodds will serve 12 weeks behind bars.
They were both also given two-year restraining orders and ordered to pay £433 in compensation.
Sentencing the pair, District Judge Helen Cousins, said she believed the attack was deliberate and targeted.
She said: "There can be no other reason than it being politically motivated for choosing that window. This was a targeted attack on a sitting MP’s office."
Chief superintendent Chris Curtis, from Durham Constabulary , said: “I am pleased with the result today, which demonstrates that Durham Constabulary takes incidents like this very seriously.
“We understand that these are politically polarised times, with people keen to express their respective viewpoints and dissatisfaction.
"Nevertheless, despite however strongly people may feel, resorting to threats of violence and criminal damage in order to reinforce personal beliefs will not tolerated.”
