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A man has been charged with milicious communications over an ‘abusive and threatening’ phone call to Tory MP Mike Freer.
James Phillips, 46, will appear at Willesden Magistrates’ Court tomorrow. He is also charged with assaulting a police officer.
He was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of malicious communication and was taken to a north London police station for questioning, and was later charged.
The alledged offence was reported by Mr Freer on February 1, the day after his bombshell interview with the Mail where he announced his resignation and said he had been driven out of office by death threats.
It comes as a separate investigation into an arson attack at the MP’s office in Finchley, north London, on Christmas Eve is ongoing, with a man and a woman charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
The two incidents are not being linked, police said.
Justice Minister Mike Freer told Rishi Sunak he will step down at the election following a string of threats and incidents, which culminated in an ‘arson’ attack on his constituency office in December
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Mr Freer said he could no longer put his family through the anxiety of knowing he might be targeted for his views every time he steps outside
Last month’s ‘arson’ attack was ‘the final straw’. One email sent after the attack informed him he was ‘the kind of person who deserved to be set alight’. Pictured: Mr Freer’s offices after the attack
Last week Mr Freer told Rishi Sunak he will step down as MP for Finchley and Golders Green at the next general election after a series of death threats.
The 63-year-old has suffered more than a decade of intimidation and says he feels ‘lucky to be alive’ after narrowly escaping a confrontation with terrorist killer Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered fellow Tory MP Sir David Amess.
Mr Freer told the Mail he could no longer put his family through the anxiety of knowing he might be targeted every time he stepped outside.
He said his husband Angelo had become ‘incredibly jittery’ since it emerged that Ali had visited his Finchley and Golders Green constituency office with the intention of killing him.
On police advice, Mr Freer has had to wear a stab vest when attending scheduled public events in his constituency.
Last month’s arson attack in north London was ‘the final straw’.
An email sent after the attack informed him he was ‘the kind of person who deserved to be set alight’.
The incident led to ‘tense’ conversations with family members over Christmas, before he decided he would step down.
The 63-year-old has suffered more than a decade of intimidation and says he feels ‘lucky to be alive’ after narrowly escaping a confrontation with terrorist killer Ali Harbi Ali (left), who murdered fellow Tory MP Sir David Amess (right)
Mr Freer told Rishi Sunak he would step down at the next election. Pictured: Sunak laughs at a joke as he talks with pupils at Wren Academy in Finchley, north London, on December 14
Mr Freer said quitting politics would be ‘a real wrench’, but added: ‘Obviously your husband or your family’s views have to carry a lot of weight. And when someone worries that, “are you going to come home at night”, you have to take that seriously.’
He said all MPs sadly had to accept a certain level of abuse as ‘par for the course’ in modern public life. But he added: ‘You shouldn’t really have to think, am I going to survive the day?’
Mr Freer’s decision will lead to fresh questions about security for MPs, who have faced increased threats in recent years. It may also reignite the debate about the toxic influence of social media on public life.
In the past decade, Sir David and Labour MP Jo Cox were murdered in their constituencies. Labour’s Stephen Timms was stabbed by an Al Qaeda sympathiser in 2010 but survived.
Mr Freer said he suffered his first serious death threat the following year, when the group Muslims Against Crusades told him to ‘let Stephen Timms be a warning to you’ and urged supporters to target him.
A dozen supporters of the group then burst into an event he was holding at North Finchley mosque, with one calling him a ‘Jewish homosexual pig’ who was ‘defiling the house of Allah’.
In the intervening years he has suffered numerous threats, including abusive notes left on his car and fake petrol bombs placed on the doorstep of his constituency office.
Since the murder of Sir David, Mr Freer’s husband has taken to insisting that he is picked up from the Tube station and is reluctant to let him walk the streets on his own.
Mr Freer is the latest of dozens of MPs to announce they will quit Parliament at the next election.
But, unlike most, polls suggest he would have held his seat. And he is clear that he has no truck with plotters trying to undermine Mr Sunak.
‘This is very much driven by personal circumstances,’ he said. ‘It is not a reflection on the Prime Minister, it is not a reflection on the Government. I still believe the Prime Minister can win.’
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