A HEREFORD man has admitted sending racist messages to 22 Members of Parliament - including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and city MP Jesse Norman. 

Benjamin Price, 32, of Belmont Road, Hereford, yesterday (May 24) pleaded guilty to 26 charges of sending emails to the MPs that were grossly offensive or of an indecent or obscene character.

In total, Price sent 26 emails, 18 of which contained racist abuse directed towards the recipient. The remaining eight emails were sent to MPs of varying ethnicities and included content that was grossly offensive.

OTHER NEWS:

The MPs targeted

  • Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (three times)
  • West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin
  • Formed Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi
  • Labour MP Rupa Huq
  • Former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott
  • Labour MP Seema Malhorta
  • Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani
  • Shadow Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq
  • Labour MP Nadia Whittome
  • Labour MP Tahir Ali
  • Conservative MP Sir Paul Beresford
  • Home Secretary Suella Braverman
  • Labour MP Imran Hussain
  • Herefordshire & South Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman
  • Former Financial Secretary Victoria Atkins
  • Labour MP Mohammad Yasin
  • Shadow Mental Health Minister Rosena Allin-Khan
  • Labour MP Navendu Mishra
  • Labour MP Virendra Sharma (three times)
  • Labour MP Aspana Begum
  • Vice-Chairman of Conservative Party Saqib Bhatti
  • Shadow Minister for Railways Tan Dhesi  

Price first sent a racially abusive email in January 2022 and subsequent emails over a three-day period between November 19 to 22, 2922.

Of the 26 emails, 18 contained racist abuse directed towards the recipient. The remaining eight emails were sent to MPs of varying ethnicities and included content that was grossly offensive.

Price was initially arrested on November 23, 2022 for the first six offences and answered no comment during his police interview.

Following a mobile phone seizure and digital forensic investigation by the police, further victims were identified. He was arrested again on January 4, 2023 and admitted he had sent the emails.

ALSO READ:

The defendant stated that he had no specific intention in sending the emails but accepted that he was racist and had targeted many of the MPs because of their race.

Hereford Magistrates Court heard that Price 'is sometimes a racist out loud, but is always a racist in his head.'

He was handed unconditional bail to appear for sentencing on June 20.

Richard Purchase, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: “Members of Parliament have difficult jobs to perform which leave them open to public scrutiny but that is no excuse for Benjamin Price’s behaviour.

"It is unacceptable for people to subject MPs to personalised abuse, including discriminatory abuse. In circumstances such as these, those who behave in this way will be breaking the law if they send emails that are grossly offensive, and we will always prosecute when our legal tests are met

"Mr Price has accepted that he sent such emails and has pleaded guilty to the charges he faced.”