Man spared jail over racist slurs and threats to kill MP

A man who made threats to kill a Labour MP and her family in a string of racist voicemails has been spared jail.

Ozgay Chevat left Rupa Huq, MP for Ealing Central and Acton, 16 voicemails from 12.30am to 10.45am on March 19 in which he called her racial slurs and said: “I am going to f****** knock you out, I am going to kill you.”

In another voicemail, the 50-year-old, who lives in Ms Huq’s west London constituency, said: “We are going to get angry with you, don’t think you can hide, you can only hide so long.”

Chevat, who appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to be sentenced, was told he came “very close” to being jailed.

He looked visibly distressed as prosecutor David Burns read some of the voicemails to the court.

Chevat called Ms Huq a “Bengali f****** Tamil tiger” and said she was “infiltrating London”.

He also made threats to her family.

Representing himself, Chevat said: “I can’t justify any of the words that were just said then because it is absolutely atrocious. All I can say is at the time I had a severe mental health breakdown.”

In her victim impact statement, Ms Huq said she was “deeply distressed” by the voicemails which she listened to that morning.

“I was shaken with the contents and I have not properly processed these threats,” she said.

“This has shocked our office and although I have in the past received threatening messages, this is on a different level and is far more serious.”

Chevat pleaded guilty to the offence of racially aggravated harassment with fear of violence under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 on August 27.

Sentencing Chevat, Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram, said: “A lot of people who have high-profile jobs are thinking twice about doing it.

“For an MP to receive death threats, not only to herself but also to her family, makes this a most serious case. It has to be seen in the context of other attacks on other MPs who have lost their lives.

“They have no idea whether the person making those threats is for real, they don’t know whether a person has mental illness.

“She worries for herself, her family and her staff. She is a public servant carrying out her duties.”

Chevat, of Horn Lane, Acton, was sentenced to 16 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and 150 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to undertake up to 25 days of rehabilitation activity and pay £213 in costs and surcharge.

Chevat was also given a restraining order banning him from contacting Ms Huq or her staff, or go to her constituency, until further notice.