Man jailed for sending Anna Soubry 'sickening and ominous' letter

15 November 2019, 16:14

A man who sent a “sickening and ominous” threatening letter to Anna Soubry has been jailed for a year.

Alden Bryce Barlow was also handed a ten year restraining order after sending the malicious message, which read: “COX WAS FIRST YOU ARE NEXT.”

It also referred to Ms Soubry as “treacherous” and “worthless”.

The letter was sent to Ms Soubry’s constituency office on October 14, and was opened by her constituency manager who called the police.

Barlow was traced following analysis of both the letter, which had his fingerprints on the rear, and CCTV from the post office counter in the Doncaster branch of WHSmith, where he posted the letter.

Barlow was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday after admitting sending the letter.

The restraining order prevents him from contacting Ms Soubry or going near her constituency address in Nottinghamshire.

Chief Crown Prosecutor Gerry Wareham said: "This letter contained a sickening and ominous threat to Ms Soubry, with an explicit reference to the murder of Jo Cox MP in 2016.

"Ms Soubry and her staff in the constituency office understandably found the message deeply disturbing and highly offensive.

"What is more attacks such as this on our elected representatives are attacks on democracy and perpetrators will be prosecuted.

"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."