Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East, said the messages had a ‘profound impact on her’ (Picture: Getty)
A man who sent racist and misogynistic messages to his MP has been jailed.
Hasmukh Doshi, 72, wrote multiple offensive messages to Claudia Webbe, MP for Leicester East, between March and November 2021.
The content of the messages has not been detailed but Ms Webbe said they had a ‘profound impact on her’.
She went on: ‘I was deeply hurt. It was painful to be targeted with such racist and misogynistic abuse.
‘It caused me to question my job, that no matter how much I helped and regardless of the success of some of the outcomes achieved, it was never enough, I would still be the target of hate and regarded as inferior.
‘The racism and misogyny were to belittle and demean me, to cause me hurt. I was absolutely devastated.’
Doshi was convicted of four counts of sending by public communication network an offensive message and three of racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment.
Claudia Webbe with her partner Lester Thomas after being convicted of harassment (PIcture: Getty)
Leicester Crown Court handed him a 28-month prison sentence and ordered him not to contact Ms Webbe for three years.
Ms Webbe said she first met Doshi, of Shanti Margh, Leicester, at a constituency surgery in 2020.
She said such abuse was something MPs have to contend with regularly and that, as well as having an impact on MPs themselves, the ‘horrendous, repeated daily abuse’ also has an indirect effect on their staff, family and friends.
Ms Webbe represents her Leicester East constituency as an independent after being expelled from the Labour Party because of her conviction for harassing a love rival.
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She made a string of calls to 59-year-old Michelle Merritt between September 1 2018 and April 26 last year because she was jealous of her friendship with her boyfriend, Lester Thomas.
During one, she called Ms Merritt ‘a slag’, threatened her with acid and said she would send naked pictures and videos to her daughters, Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
In another call, recorded by the complainant, Webbe is heard telling Ms Merritt to ‘get out of my relationship’ some 11 times.
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The MP said: ‘The racism and misogyny were to belittle and demean me, to cause me hurt. I was absolutely devastated.’
