Man arrested over death threat to Nigel Farage on social media
A man in his 20s has been arrested after allegedly sending Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a death threat on social media.
The post allegedly said: ‘I’m going to shoot you in the head if you win.’
A Met spokesperson: ‘On Tuesday, 14 July a man in his 20s was arrested by Met officers on suspicion of sending threatening communications to a Member of Parliament.
‘The arrest relates to a social media post from earlier this year, which was reported to police on Friday, 8 May. After receiving the report, detectives submitted an application to a social media platform to gain access to the user’s contact information.
‘After the relevant information was returned to detectives the man was arrested, with support from local Met officers, at a residential address in south London. After being held in police custody overnight, he has since been bailed pending further enquiries.’
The suspect was arrested on Tuesday over the social media entry from May, at the time of the local elections, that said: ‘I am going to shoot you in the head if you win’, according to the Telegraph.
Mr Farage formally resigned from Parliament last week but was MP for Clacton when the offence allegedly occurred.
The Metropolitan Police did not name Mr Farage, but said in a statement: “On Tuesday, July 14 a man in his 20s was arrested by Met officers on suspicion of sending threatening communications to a Member of Parliament.
“The arrest relates to a social media post from earlier this year, which was reported to police on Friday, May 8. After receiving the report, detectives submitted an application to a social media platform to gain access to the user’s contact information.
“After the relevant information was returned to detectives the man was arrested, with support from local Met officers, at a residential address in south London. After being held in police custody overnight, he has since been bailed pending further enquiries.”
News of the arrest came after the murder of Reform spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe, who was found dead at her Devon home on Thursday having suffered serious injuries.
Counter-terrorism police said they are investigating whether the suspect had wanted to target Reform UK MPs, and figures from across the political spectrum have raised concerns about the safety of current and former MPs, and members of other parties.
Mr Farage told the Daily Telegraph he has faced multiple threats on social media ‘for years’.
He said: ‘This is the first time the police have ever proactively acted on a social media post, and I hope they are looking at the other three or four hundred similar posts from this year alone.
‘This has been going on for years – not just words but videos of people firing guns and so on, and in the past we have put multiple reports in to the police, always to be told that these social media posts don’t meet the threshold, which is extraordinary.
‘And it goes deeper than that. It’s about the comedian Jo Brand joking about throwing battery acid in my face, it’s about Noel Fielding telling people to stab me, and if the police now decide to act to protect the lives of serving and ex-politicians, then at least something good will have come out of Ann’s horrific death.’
Technology & Business Editor
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