Man found guilty of sending hundreds of abusive emails to Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A man has been found guilty of harassment after sending hundreds of abusive and threatening emails to Sir Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry.

David Knott, 46, from Islington, had denied two counts of harassment against staff members of the Labour leader and his local MP. He is due to be sentenced on 1 October at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Representing himself in court, Knott was accused sending an “excessive number of abusive emails” to Mr Starmer and Ms Thornberry between December 2019 and February this year.

The court heard Knott, who was convicted at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, often used profanities in his communication with the staff and threatened to protest outside their constituency offices multiple times.

District Judge Alexander Jacobs said the emails, which were related to an “ongoing casework matter” about housing, went over a “line that must never be crossed”.

He told Knott: “I believe you are well aware your language was abusive and should not have been used.

“Any reasonable person would have known the number of emails and the language used would have caused harassment.”

Jennifer Gatland, prosecuting, told the court that Knott had accused staff members of “being incompetent to the point of illegality” and that many of them were “rambling and incoherent”.

The court heard that a cease and desist letter was sent to Knott - but the emails continued.

A witness statement by a member of Sir Keir’s staff said the “persistent threat of messages” made them feel “extremely anxious”.

“I found the language and tone of the emails distressing and they made me very concerned,” the statement read.

A member of Ms Thornberry’s staff added in a witness statement: “I was very offended and distressed with the abusive language sent many times during a day.”

Knott told the court he was trying to complain about noise from ongoing London Underground work by his apartment which left him and his late quadriplegic partner “sleepless for six months”.

He said: “I spent four years trying to get a response from these people - my MP’s treatment of me is absolutely disgusting.

“I’m working class and I used the words as an expression of the torture I have suffered.”