- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Pramod Thomas
A man from Slough has been jailed for two years for sending death threats to politicians including former prime minister Theresa May.
Wajid Shah, 27, was convicted of six charges of sending electronic communications with intent to cause distress or anxiety by a jury at Southwark Crown Court.
Shah, who has an IQ of 58 and major learning difficulties, had sent these threats as he feared his mother Noreen would fail the UK immigration test as the ‘text was too difficult’ and ‘she spoke no English’.
Along with May, Shah had sent threats to Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, Tan Dhesi, MP for Slough, Mark Lancaster, MP for Milton Keynes North, Lord David Blunkett and Baroness Ruth Lister last year.
Judge Philip Bartle, QC, called the emails Shah sent to politicians ‘abusive and abhorrent’.
“Shah sent similar messages to Boris Johnson and others but they were not received. He has severe learning difficulties. He does not suffer from any mental health disorder,” noted judge Bartle.
The judge noted that despite Shah’s learning difficulties he managed to plan this by targeting MP’s linked to immigration as well as geographical proximity.
Shah attended court in the same dark trousers and a blue shirt he wore every day of his trial and didn’t react as the judge passed the sentence, reported The Daily Mail.
Shah sent the emails through the website WriteToThem.com, used for contacting politicians.
He signed the messages off in either the name of his father, takeaway worker Azmat Shah, or Jobcentre Plus worker Jasmindar Badyal.
Barry McElduff, prosecuting, said that Wajid and his younger brother Abid are very close to mother and would act as translators for Noreen Shah as she spoke little or no English.
The court was told that in the family eldest brother and mother Noreen living, cooking and sleeping in one room while the father and other brother lived in other rooms.
“Wajid had considerable anxiety about her necessity should it arise to complete the UK citizenship test. It would seem that the relations between Azmat and Noreen had broken down and the children had taken sides in the fall out from that breakdown, reflected in one way by the sleeping arrangements,” said McElduff.
Later, the court was told Shah was deemed suitable to take part in Maximus, a work choice programme tailored to help with help problems to get into work.
Giving evidence Badyal said Shah attended the Job Centre every day to use the computers on his job search, mostly by himself.
She said that Shah was ‘quiet, polite and compliant’ and avoided interacting with others.
