A woman who tried to summon her MP to court has been jailed for harassment.
Tracey Smith, who is a trans woman, sent Solicitor General Ellie Reeves 22 emails and 10 voicemails calling her “transphobic” and accusing her older sister – Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves – of physically assaulting her at a buffet bar.
Smith used phrases including “a person is dangerous when they have nothing to lose”, “be warned”, and “bullets will be flying around”.
The 58-year-old was sentenced to 26 weeks’ imprisonment and ordered to pay costs of £650 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
District Judge Michael Snow also ordered a restraining order without time limit to be imposed.
Smith had persuaded a county court to issue a witness summons to Ms Reeves, which the MP was able to avoid only with the help of lawyers for the Speaker of the House.
She also made accusations about the local council, doctors and the police, and demanded that Ms Reeves contact her personally to get the full story.
Smith claimed she was trying to ask the Lewisham West and East Dulwich MP for help, but a judge found her guilty of harassment after a one-day trial last month.
In his sentencing remarks, District Judge Snow said: “I am appalled if this be the case that the civil courts are so poorly organised that they do not address the issue of whether a witness has material evidence to give and consider whether the purpose of obtaining a witness summons is to harass.”
The judge said Smith’s offending was intended to cause Ms Reeves “maximum fear and distress” and was “a direct attack upon democracy”.
He told Smith that she had used language which was “inflammatory, which was threatening and which continued even after you were told in no uncertain terms to desist”.
He added: “It was deliberate, planned, and had a very significant effect on Ms Reeves – causing her significant anxiety which prevented her from fully engaging with her family.”
Sentencing Smith, he told her: “You did cause Ms Reeves to adopt considerable changes to her lifestyle and this directly impacted upon her democratic duties.
“You caused her to engage a special protection officer to accompany her, caused her to change the ways in which she behaves within her constituency in that she no longer travels by foot or public transport.”
The judge added: “You present a risk to anybody who could effect change and has failed to live up to your expectations.
“Your behaviour contributes to an atmosphere that discourages people from becoming politicians in the first place, and discourages politicians from perhaps performing their public duty.”
Between July and October 2024, Smith sent emails and left voicemails accusing Ms Reeves of “legalising sexual abuse”, “abusing the law” and being a “fascist”, the court heard.
Ms Reeves told the trial that Smith left her a “slightly menacing” voicemail telling her “time is running out” for her to respond.
In one of her emails, Smith said Ms Reeves’ sister Rachel Reeves “looked like the woman who attacked me at a buffet bar”, the court heard.
Ms Reeves told the trial that Smith’s communications “was upsetting me, it was upsetting my staff. It just felt like it wasn’t going to stop”.
