credit;PA
A man who sent a “sickening” letter to an MP, suggesting she would be murdered like Jo Cox, has been jailed.
Anna Soubry was sent the post, which read “COX WAS FIRST YOU ARE NEXT”, by Alden Bryce Barlow, 55, from Doncaster.
The letter arrived at Ms Soubry’s constituency office in Broxtowe, Nottingham, on October 14 this year and was opened by a member of staff, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Barlow admitted sending a letter conveying a threatening message and was sentenced to 12 months in jail at Sheffield Crown Court.
He was also given a 10-year restraining order against Ms Soubry, who is standing as a candidate for The Independent Group for Change (TIGfC) in the General Election.
Barlow was traced using fingerprint analysis and CCTV from the post office counter in Doncaster where he posted the letter.
Ms Soubry, leader of the TIGfC, was previously a Conservative and had several ministerial jobs under David Cameron.
Chief Crown prosecutor Gerry Wareham called the note “sickening” and “ominous” and described it as an “attack on democracy”.
He said: “Ms Soubry and her staff in the constituency office understandably found the message deeply disturbing and highly offensive.
“I hope the sentence Barlow received today is of some comfort to Ms Soubry and her colleagues and a deterrent to anyone else contemplating such despicable actions against a parliamentary representative or candidate.”
Mrs Cox was Labour MP for Batley and Spen when she was stabbed and shot outside a constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in 2016.
