County Durham councillor speaks out about death threats and abuse she has faced

A County Durham councillor who received death threats has spoken of how she feared for her life.

Cllr Samantha Townsend said she has received targeted campaigns of name calling, fat-shaming and constant bullying of her character which soon turned into physical threats when she campaigned in her local area.

The threats later became so severe that the Labour representative reportedly feared for her life.

Speaking at a Durham County Council meeting on Wednesday 25 January, the Shildon councillor said: "I was told to my face that I shall be dragged out into the street and shot."

She continued: "I have been both in public, near my children and online accused of being a paedophile, and I have been subjected to a two year long period of online harassment where a member of our community generated between eight and 10 Twitter accounts in order to harass me and other female Labour politicians.

"So, this is very real. I had people who were at that point afraid to let me walk home alone because of the abuse I was receiving."

Cllr Townsend received a round of applause for sharing her story at the meeting, as more councillors shared their own experiences of abuse.

Members present at the meeting agreed to endorse the Local Government Association's (LGA) "Debate Not Hate" campaign.

A total of seven in 10 councillors reported experiencing abuse or intimidation in the last year according to the LGA's 2022 councillor census.

Ms Townsend told ITV Tyne Tees: "You get a notification on your phone and you find out it somebody under a fake name talking about how unattractive you are, how disgusting you look or comparing you to a fat or a mentally ill character on TV.

"I really didn't expect to be getting flak from grown men who are just sitting behind a computer screen making themselves feel good in front of their friends, which is effectively what is is."

Leader of the Durham County Council, Amanda Hopgood said she thinks the abuse councillors are facing online with deter others from becoming councillors.

Ms Hopgood said: "The social media element is probably the biggest downfall when it comes to abuse against local members.

"People see that online and think "why would I want to do that?"

"That's really sad because there are some amazing people out there, amazing community champions who could do fantastic jobs for their community at a councillor level, who are put off through behaviour like this."

The LGA said the increasing level of abuse and intimidation aimed at local politicians is preventing elected members from representing the communities they serve and deterring individuals from standing at elections and undermining local democracy.

The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in their communities, encourage healthy debate and improve the responses and support for local politicians facing abuse and intimidation.

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