Angela Rayner: Man sentenced for threats to Labour deputy leader

A man who sent deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner a threatening email telling her to "watch your back and your kids" has been sentenced.

Benjamin Iliffe, 36, admitted sending the email to the Ashton-under-Lyne MP from his personal account.

Iliffe, of Cambridgeshire, was sentenced to 15 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months.

Ms Rayner said she had received a number of "terrifying" death threats recently which have been "devastating".

Iliffe was made the subject of a two-year restraining order and told not to contact Ms Rayner directly or indirectly, not to talk about her on social media and not to go to her office in Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester.

The former delivery driver pleaded guilty at Huntingdon Magistrates' Court to sending the email and possessing a quantity of cannabis on Wednesday, when he was arrested.

The court heard he warned Ms Rayner to "watch your back and your kids" in the email on 16 October, along with calling her a four-letter expletive.

He also said it had been "easy to find" her personal home address.

Sentencing him, presiding magistrate Andrew Riddington said the offence was "so serious because of the psychological harm caused to a public servant".

However, he said the sentence could be suspended because of Iliffe's guilty pleas and the "remorse shown".

A spokesman for Ms Rayner said she had received several threatening and abusive communications in recent weeks.

In a statement on social media after Iliffe was sentenced, Ms Rayner said threats she had received "against my life and the lives of close family have been so terrifying and explicit".

She said they had a "devastating impact on me, my children and others close to me".

"Dealing with death threats and liaising with the police about safety should not be a standard part of the day-to-day working life of a Member of Parliament or their staff," she said.

A probation officer told the court he had spoken to Iliffe who had said he felt "angry" about comments made by Ms Rayner during a Labour Party conference reception in September.

The officer said: "He informed me that following the death of Sir David Amess MP, he felt angry at the victim who - he states - described a member of the Conservative Party previously... as 'scum'.

"He stated he wanted to vent, and felt that somebody needed to tell her she was partially responsible for the attack following her use of language."

In her statement, Ms Rayner also said she would "unreservedly like to apologise for the language I used", adding she would not use it again.

Iliffe, of Chatteris, was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 35 days of a rehabilitation activity.

He was made to pay £85 costs, a £128 victim surcharge and was fined £50 for the cannabis, which was ordered to be forfeited and destroyed.

Two other people have been arrested in connection with alleged malicious communications sent to Ms Rayner.

Greater Manchester Police said a 70-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of malicious communications earlier, in conjunction with South Yorkshire Police.

A 52-year-old man was also held in Halifax on suspicion of malicious communications on Wednesday over abusive phone calls made to the Labour MP on 15 October.