Police feared I was target for far-right extremists linked to Jo Cox murder
ACOUNCIL leader has revealed how she was put on a police alert list amid concerns she could be targeted by extremists linked to the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox.
Cllr Llinos Medi Huws found herself on the receiving end of anonymous online abuse after becoming the first woman to lead Anglesey council in 2017.
As one of the UK’s youngest council leaders, at the age of 35, she quickly discovered that being on social media was a double-edged sword.
Matters came to a head in 2018 when she received a threatening anonymous message.
“That’s the one that always stands out in my mind,” said Cllr Llinos Medi, mum of two children aged 11 and 14.
“It said, “you will now pay the price”.
“As I was newly appointed, I wasn’t sure how commonplace these type of threats were – in this job you take it for granted you will get a lot of flak.
“So I just referred it to the chief executive and the deputy leader.”
Before she knew it, the police were knocking on the door of her family home.
Cllr Llinos Medi was told officers suspected the message was sent by rightwing extremists with links to the murder of Jo Cox.
Far-right sympathiser Thomas Mair was jailed for life for shooting and stabbing the Yorkshire
MP to death in the run-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016.
The North Wales force took the threat seriously enough to bolster security, installing locks and alarms, and the force’s arson team installed fire prevention equipment.
The family home was also “marked” on police systems to ensure a swift response should the alarm be raised. Not unsurprisingly, the incident unsettled Cllr Llinos Medi.
“It was quite a shock when the police arrived,” she said.
Responding to such incidents, last year Anglesey council took the decision to remove councillors’ home addresses from online platforms, though email addresses are still publicised.
Cllr Llinos Medi continued to receive online abuse – most of it low level, some more intrusive.
So she quit Facebook. It was a decision she didn’t take lightly, mindful of the ability the platform gave her to share ideas and engage with constituents.
“I still have a Twitter account, but I mostly use that for sharing official council messages,” she said.
“I rarely put any personal material on there.
“I made a conscious decision not to be active online because I didn’t want it to have a negative impact on my children.
“My daughter was just coming up to the age when she might start using social media and I didn’t want her to be worried by what she might see.
“The last thing children want to see is their mother being slated online. As a single parent, I thought that might also make me a candidate for abuse.”
Cllr Llinos Medi’s experiences chimed with those of Virginia Crosbie. Earlier this week the Anglesey MP told The Daily Post she had reported some 30 threats, abusive emails and social media posts to the police.
Worried about the impact on democratic processes, she called on people across Britain – and especially women on Anglesey – to stand up against “cowardly” online trolls who target female public figures (see full story facing page).
Like Mrs Crosbie, Cllr Llinos Medi’s greatest worry in the impact of online abuse on democracy, particularly when it comes to attracting articulate young women to public service: “How are we going to do that when this dark cloud (of online abuse) is hanging over the role?
“It’s very worrying for the future of local and national democracy.”