A man who made menacing phone calls to the office of north London MP Mike Freer and issued the chilling threat “I’m coming for you” has been spared jail.
James Phillips, 46, admitted he was behind a series of calls to Mr Freer’s office on January 31, including two with heavy breathing and a third in which he issued the threat.
“Make sure you tell the police I’m coming for you, you c**t”, Phillips said tothe MP’s assistant. “Not just Mike Freer, but you as well.”
Phillips was tracked through his phone number, having made previous calls to Mr Freer’s office, and he was arrested at his home in Turnpike Lane on February 6.
At Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday, Phillips was sentenced to a 14 month community order and banned from contacting Mr Freer for the next two years.
The calls came just after Mr Freer had announced he plans to step down as an MP at the next General Election.
The Justice Minister has been the target of abuse and death threats, and his constituency office in north London also fell victim to an arson attack on Christmas Eve last year.
At the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Paul Harwood, 42, admitted torching a shed at the office in Ballards Lane, north Finchley, north London, but denied the incident was politically motivated.
He admitted two charges of arson, including a second fire at a nearby Tesco, while a co-defendant, Zara Kasory, 32, of Woodhouse Road, north Finchley,denied the same charges.
Phillips, of Brampton Park Road, Turnpike Lane, north London, admitted issuing a threat to Mr Freer’s office and also pleaded guilty to assault by attempting to punch a police officer after his arrest.
Prosecutor Adrita Ahmed said Phillips refused to leave his police cell, and swung his fist at an officer who tried to interview him through the cell door.
She said Phillips complained about being “homeless for 20 years, and having ‘rats crawling in my house’”, and added: “They treat me like a c**t, then I treat them like a c**t and I get arrested.”
When he was eventually interview, Phillips admitted making the menacing phone calls, and when asked his intentions he replied: “Could be anything.”
The court heard he also complained about no one helping with his housing situation, and added: “I’m justified in having the hump.”
Phillips pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker and making a grossly offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing phone call.
He was ordered to carry out 25 days of rehabilitation as part of the sentence.
Nathan Miebai, from the CPS said: “Phillips undoubtedly intended to cause serious distress to Mr Freer when calling his office directly to state his threat.
"Maintaining public safety is a top priority for the CPS and we will always prosecute cases like these whenever our legal test is met."
