- Monday, April 29, 2024
By: Pramod Thomas
AN MP threatened a woman with acid after she grew jealous of the friendship she had with her partner, a court heard on Monday (27).
Claudia Webbe, an independent MP for Leicester East after being suspended by the Labour Party last September, also allegedly threatened to send naked pictures of Michelle Merritt to her family.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court also heard that Webbe called Merritt “a slag” and made several silent phone calls from a withheld number.
The 56-year-old pleaded not guilty to the harassment charges shortly after they were brought against her in November 2020.
The threats were made to Merritt during a series of phone calls between September 1, 2018, and April 26 last year, the court heard.
The prosecution alleged the reason for the harassment was Merritt’s friendship with Lester Thomas, Webbe’s partner at the time.
Merritt, 59, said she had been left feeling “very shocked and very fearful” by the phone calls.
“(Webbe) was very, very angry at me. It was loud,” Merritt told the court. “She then started calling me a slag and saying friends don’t send pictures of their t*** and p**** to other friends, and it culminated in, ‘You’re a slag and you should be acid’.
“She confirmed she knew where I lived and would send pictures and videos to my daughters.”
Merritt alleged the harassment would take place after she had met Thomas. “If we had gone out for a drink or something, there would be a phone call,” she said. “When you are being called and no-one answers, it’s unnerving, especially as a woman who lives alone.”
In a call, which was played in court, Webbe can be heard repeatedly telling Merritt to “get out of my relationship”. Giving evidence, Webbe denied attempting to threaten Merritt.
“I have never sought to cause her any anxiety or concern with an actual threat,” she said.
She also said she had spent a lifetime campaigning for the rights of women and would “never treat women like that”.
“This is not something that is in my character and not something I would ever do,” Webbe said. “These terms and these words are not my words. I would never, ever use such expletives, such derogatory terms about another person, let alone another woman.”
She claimed the recorded phone call which was played in court was taken out of context.
Webbe claimed she had been arguing with Thomas about breaching the Covid-19 lockdown with Merritt. “My anger on that particular day was directed towards Lester,” she said. “It’s not my finest moment. I listened to the tape earlier. I’m embarrassed by it.”
After Merritt reported the calls to the police, officers spoke to Webbe in April 2019 and said she must not have any further contact with Merritt. However, the prosecution alleged that call data shows Webbe made a further 16 calls to Merritt after she had been spoken to by the police.
The trial is due to continue on October 13. Webbe, formally a political adviser to the London mayor Ken Livingstone, entered the Commons in 2019. She won the Leicester East seat after the Labour party’s incumbent MP, Keith Vaz, stood down after being suspended from parliament.
