Hereford man who sent racist emails to MPs gets community order

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By Andrew DawkinsBBC News

1 hour ago

Legend,

Benjamin Price was ordered to pay £334 at Hereford Magistrates’ Court

A man who sent racist and ‘grossly offensive’ emails to 22 MPs, including the Prime Minister, has been issued a community order.

Last month Benjamin Price, 32, of Belmont Road, Hereford, pleaded guilty to 26 counts.

Six MPs in 2022 reported receiving racist emails and other victims were discovered, police said.

Price was given an 18-month community order and ordered to pay 334 at Hereford Magistrates’ Court.

He sent 18 emails containing racial slurs and eight others to MPs of different ethnicities which featured “grossly offensive content”, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

“Totally unacceptable”

In comments released by West Mercia Police, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said no MP should be subjected to ‘such racist, threatening and distressing emails’ as those were sent by Price.

He added: “The real hatred was aimed at parliamentarians, especially women parliamentarians, simply because of their minority ethnicity. It is totally unacceptable.

Sir Lindsay said PCs Zoe Boucher, 28, and Emily Butler, 27, “did brilliant policing” in locating Price, whose victims included Rishi Sunak and Labor MPs Diane Abbott and Tulip Siddiq.

The West Mercia force said the case was sparked by six MPs reporting to the Metropolitan Police that they had received racist emails.

The Met believed Price was the attacker and, as part of a National Police Protection Scheme for MPs, asked the Midlands Force to investigate.

After his arrest, his home was raided and his phone and other devices unlocked, which revealed that other victims had received racist emails from him, the force said.

On Tuesday, Price received the order from the community to include a 25-day rehabilitative activity requirement, a $120 fine and ordered to pay $100 costs and a $114 victim fine surcharge.

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