Man arrested over death threat to Rhondda MP
POLICE have arrested a man after MP Chris Bryant received death threats following the death of Sir David Amess.
The Rhondda MP said he was sent the malicious post after calling for people to be kinder after the Tory MP was stabbed to death on Friday.
He had called for kindness following the killing of his fellow MP and urged people to respect others’ opinions and differing politics.
A 76-year-old man from the Bridgend area has now been arrested on suspicion of malicious communications.
Mr Bryant’s first tweet on Saturday read: “Let’s all send a kind message on Twitter today to a politician we disagree with. Let’s eliminate the negative.”
On Sunday he then posted: “You only have to look through some of the responses to this tweet to see the poison that is infecting British politics. And now I’ve had yet again another death threat.”
Speaking to the Echo, Chris Bryant said: “Over the years I have had a lot of death threats. They happen about four to five times a year. People have been arrested, cautioned by the police and one has gone to jail for it.
“There are many people putting themselves in harm’s way on behalf of the public every day but there can’t be many workplaces that have suffered two murders in five years.
“One of the great things about our system is I go to Morrisons, I go to the pub, I get on the train to go to a rugby match, just like everybody else.
“People can approach me and there’s a danger about that as well, of course, if you have fixated individuals harbouring a lot of anger and sometimes we become a target.
“You don’t want to put MPs in fortresses. You never know when you’re going to come across a fixated individual,
so you have to be careful.”
Sir David, the MP for Southend West, was meeting constituents at a regular surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea when the stabbing occurred.
Police were called to the scene in Eastwood Road North shortly after 12.05pm on Friday, where they found the 69-year-old injured.
A 25-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after officers arrived at the scene and a knife was recovered, Essex Police said.
Yesterday, Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told BBC Breakfast that Sir David’s death “hasn’t sunk in”.
“I still have a sense of disbelief, really, about what’s happened,” the Labour MP for Torfaen said.
“It hasn’t really sunk in.” He described the Conservative MP for Southend West as “a very kind and very generous man”.
“I first met David when I first came into Parliament in 2015,” he said.
“I hadn’t previously worked in Parliament and I was still finding my way around the place.
“David approached me to ask how I was and how I was settling in. That conversation captured the essence of David.
“He was a very kind and very generous man.”