Man who threatened Labour MP with death receives suspended sentence

Ozgay Chevat, residing in Acton, west London, avoided a custodial sentence after issuing death threats to Rupa Huq, the Labour MP for Ealing Central and Acton, through a series of racist voicemails. On March 19, Mr. Chevat sent Ms. Huq 16 voicemails containing racial slurs and the explicit threat: “I am going to kill you.” The 50-year-old individual, who received a suspended sentence at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, was informed that he had come “very close” to incarceration. Mr. Chevat, representing himself in court, stated: “I can’t justify any of the words that were just said then because it is absolutely atrocious. All I can say is at the time I had a severe mental health breakdown.” Prosecutor David Burns presented excerpts of the voicemails to the court during the proceedings. In one message, Mr. Chevat, a resident within Ms. Huq’s west London constituency, declared: “We are going to get angry with you, don’t think you can hide, you can only hide so long.” He additionally referred to Ms. Huq as a “Bengali Tamil tiger” and asserted that she was “infiltrating London.” Threats targeting her family were also conveyed. Ms. Huq expressed in her victim impact statement that she was “deeply distressed” by the voicemails, which she had heard that morning. She added: “I was shaken with the contents and I have not properly processed these threats.” “This has shocked our office and although I have in the past received threatening messages, this is on a different level and is far more serious,” she further stated. On August 27, Mr. Chevat admitted guilt to the charge of racially aggravated harassment with fear of violence, as defined by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Deputy Chief Magistrate Tan Ikram, during the sentencing of Mr. Chevat, remarked: “A lot of people who have high-profile jobs are thinking twice about doing it.” He continued: “For an MP to receive death threats, not only to herself but also to her family, makes this a most serious case. It has to be seen in the context of other attacks on other MPs who have lost their lives.” “They have no idea whether the person making those threats is for real, they don’t know whether a person has mental illness,” the Magistrate observed. He concluded: “She worries for herself, her family and her staff. She is a public servant carrying out her duties.” Mr. Chevat, whose address is Horn Lane, received a sentence of 16 weeks’ imprisonment, which was suspended for 18 months, along with an order for 150 hours of unpaid work. Additionally, he was mandated to complete up to 25 days of rehabilitation activities and to pay £213 for costs and surcharge.