Man who abused Tory MP Stuart Andrew after Andrew Joyce attack is fined

A man who abused a Tory MP in a crude email after the politician was headbutted at Westminster by a rival was fined £110 and ordered to pay £100 costs today.

Nicholas Scales told MP Stuart Andrew he should "stop wasting police time and get your f****** job done", Leeds Magistrates' Court heard.

Scales said Eric Joyce, the Labour MP who attacked Mr Andrew in the Strangers Bar at the House of Commons in February, "probably knocked some sense into your small-minded Tory mind".

The rant continued, saying if the MP had ever been out in Leeds or Bradford he would have known how to defend himself, and called Mr Andrew a "queer mammy's boy".

It ended: "You Tory c**** are all the same, the sooner the IRA restarts and bombs your conference again the better."

The court heard how Scales, 41, of Upper Hale Road, Farnham, Surrey, sent the email to Mr Andrew's constituency office in Leeds and it was read by a secretary.

It arrived three days after the MP was attacked by Mr Joyce, MP for Falkirk.

Scales pleaded guilty to sending a malicious communication last month.

Femi Odenekan, defending, told magistrates: "It was offensive, I make no bones about it, the defendant accepts that."

Scales, who was not working and has mental health issues, will pay the fine and costs out of his benefits.

Lin Burgess, chairman of the bench, told him: "We note your previous good character, early guilty plea and co-operation with the police and have had the benefit of a lengthy pre-sentence report.

"We consider this a serious offence due to the content of the communication sent."

She made a restraining order preventing Scales from contacting the MP directly or indirectly for 12 months.

PA