MP’s ‘terror alert’ after stalker wins £100k on lottery

LABOUR MP Jess Phillips has revealed how she was warned that a man convicted of death threats against her could use a big lottery win to attack her from jail.

She said that counter-terror police informed her that Rakeem Malik, 56, could try to mount an attack ‘against me while still in prison’, using his lottery winnings.

The Mail on Sunday understands that Malik, who is already serving a life sentence for attempted murder when he made the threats, won £100,000 on a lottery scratch card while on mental health day release from an NHS secure unit.

It is understood he was in a secure mental health unit at the time of the scratch-card purchase and transferred his winnings into a jail account.

Shadow Home Office Minister Mrs Phillips said that counter-terror police ‘turned up mob-handed to my office’.

The police had such grave concerns, she said, because the threats came from a man with ‘access to quite substantial sums that could have been used in the commission of crimes against me’.

Malik, a Muslim convert, was given a five-year sentence in 2020 for posting death threats to Mrs Phillips, the Birmingham Yardley MP, as well as to former Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May – and another woman MP.

He then made further threats from behind bars against the high-profile Labour MP, resulting in a second five-year sentence given last year.

Mrs Phillips, Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding, has revealed how after alerting the police to the second threat, she was warned that Malik could reach her from behind bars thanks to a lottery win.

She told MPs: ‘The threats were jihadist in nature and largely about how the person in prison – obviously a risk factor on the balance of probabilities – was working with people on the outside to kill me and my family.’

Ministry of Justice sources sought to play down the potential threat to Mrs Phillips, saying that Malik’s spending was closely monitored and that he could only purchase approved items such as food, toiletries or computer games.

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘Spending by prisoners is tightly restricted and any transfers are subject to approval by prison staff.’

The NHS said it was unaware of the incident and could not comment further.

‘Was working to kill me and my family’