Man who sent abusive emails to Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips jailed for 12 weeks

A man who emailed Labour MP Jess Phillips saying she would "burn until her skin is no more" has been jailed.

Nabil Arif, 36, from Birmingham, was also given a restraining order barring him from contacting the MP until further notice.

Arif had sent threatening emails over the space of four months from October last year before she reported him to the police.

In the final email Arif said she was ‘pathetic’ and that she would ‘burn until her skin is no more’.

In other emails Arfi told Ms Philips "hell is real, and you will burn".

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the emails were related to the Israel/Gaza conflict.

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, Ms Phillips expressed fear that Arif’s aggression towards her might escalate and potentially lead to her coming to physical harm at his hands, which she said had changed her life "immeasurably".

"It had limited my freedom and my ability to do my job closely with the public as I used to do," she said.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Arif, of Warwick Road, Birmingham, was sentenced on Monday at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court to 12 weeks in custody and was also made subject of a restraining order barring him from contacting the MP until further notice.

He was convicted of sending, by public communication network, an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message or matter following a trial at the same court on July 29.

Richard Purchase of the CPS said: "Members of Parliament have a right to perform their duties and represent their constituents without being subjected to derogatory messages that cause alarm and distress.

"It is clear that Nabil Arif’s behaviour escalated from the initial emails, leading Ms Phillips to fear for her safety."

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