Man who sent homophobic death treats to gay MP spared jail
By Will Stroude
A 37-year-old man was given a 25-day community order after he was found guilty of making a death threat to a Labour MP.
Geoffrey Farquharson admitted leaving a homophobic, Islamophobic and threatening voice message on the Parliamentary office phone of Ben Bradshaw on June 15.
According to reports in The Mirror, Farquharson called Bradshaw a “queer c***t”, and a “queer bastard”. He also said he was “sick of people being killed” by Muslims, adding “they are a problem and you are a queer English b*****d.”
The message ended after Farquharson left a warning for Bradshaw: “I will kill you, you bastard.”
It was said in court that the message left the MP for Exeter fearing for the safety of his staff.
As well as a community order, District Judge Stephen Nichols sentenced Farquharson to a 12 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was also banned from contacting Bradshaw or visiting his constituency office, and ordered to pay £85 in court costs.
Handing down the sentence, the judge said: “The message was clearly homophobic, Islamophobic and racist and there was clearly a death threat to Mr Bradshaw.
“You accept through your guilty plea that the message you sent to Mr Bradshaw was highly offensive.
“In the message, your voice became extremely angry and you make threats and use highly offensive and abusive language.”
Ben Bradshaw isn’t the only MP to have faced homophobia recently, with Labour MP Angela Eagle receiving “torrents” of anti-LGBT abuse over the phone last month.