Gillingham man jailed over racist Kemi Badenoch death threats

A man has been jailed for sending the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch emails threatening to shoot her dead.

Ex-teacher Kieran Kyle sent three emails on 2 May to the Tory party leader in which he made racist references and claimed to have been in the IRA, the court heard.

The 43-year-old, from Gillingham in Kent, pleaded guilty on 22 September at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to two counts of sending communications of an indecent or offensive nature.

Kyle was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison at the same court on Monday.

In two of the emails, Kyle had made racist references and written: “I’m ex-IRA, so Bloody Sunday references from you are going to give you trouble,” the court heard.

The messages were sent on the day Badenoch apologised for footage from Bloody Sunday being mistakenly used in a social media clip to criticise a parliamentary Bill on legacy issues in Northern Ireland.

The Tory leader had said she did not sign off the video and that it was sent out by “very young people”.

The video criticising the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, posted to her social media channels on 28 April, showed Badenoch saying the Labour legislation would “drag” Troubles veterans back to court.

Thirteen unarmed civilians were shot dead when members of the Army’s Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside area of Londonderry on 30 January 1972, a date that became known as Bloody Sunday.

The court heard Kyle had also sent an email to Badenoch’s husband Hamish on 29 April, which used a racist term and said she had a “big mouth” and he should “put a leash on her”.

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