MP received malicious anti-gay email after Commons assault

A court in Yorkshire has heard how gay MP Stuart Andrew received an abusive message containing a gay slur shortly after he was assaulted in a Commons bar earlier this year.

Tory Mr Andrew had been physically attacked by Labour MP Eric Joyce at Westminster in February, though there was no indication that incident was motivated by homophobia.

Leeds Magistrates Court heard this week that Nicholas Scales admitted sending Mr Andrew an email after the incident, into which another Conservative MP and a Labour whip were drawn.

According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Scales called the MP a “queer” and a “mummies boy”.

Police said Scales, from Surrey, did not deny sending the email, which also expressed a desire for the IRA to reform and bomb a Tory party conference.

In the message, he accused Mr Andrew of “wasting police time” and suggested he “get [his] ******* job done” and suggested he did not know how to defend himself.

Scales, 41, pleaded guilty to sending malicious communication, but said he had no connection to Mr Andrew and no intention of carrying out the threats in his email.

The defendant’s lawyer said he had no “plausible explanation” for sending the message and that the client, who is seeing a psychotherapist, “should have realised how offensive these comments were”.

Scales will be sentenced at a later date.

• Dec 01 2023

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