Ipswich man avoids jail over nuisance calls targeted at London Mayor Sadiq Khan
A man who told police in a nuisance call that London Mayor Sadiq Khan was going to get shot in the head has been spared jail.
A man who told police in a nuisance call that London Mayor Sadiq Khan was going to get shot in the head has been spared jail.
In an emergency call played to Ipswich Magistrates' Court, Christopher Massey said: "Look mate, there's an emergency.
"I hear Mayor Khan is going to get a bullet in the back of his skull in the next few weeks as he's f***ing off the English."
In a second call, the 53-year-old from Ipswich also made reference to police flying the "hippy flag" and the "rainbow flag".
Anna O'Brien, prosecuting, said the two calls to Suffolk Police on February 24 this year were made "very close together".
She said when Massey was arrested that evening he was "very drunk", and she said he told officers: "I'm like that, I do that sort of thing, I'm a nightmare."
Ms O'Brien said the defendant also said Mr Khan "shouldn't be in the country", and that in interview he told officers he "felt he was the only Englishman in his area".
David Allan, mitigating, said Massey was "probably rehashing the nonsense he's heard from Lee Anderson ... in a drunken call".
Former Conservative Party deputy chairman Mr Anderson, who has since defected to Reform UK, had claimed that "Islamists" had "got control" of Mr Khan and that the first Muslim London mayor had "given away our capital" to such extremists.
Massey admitted at an earlier hearing to two counts of sending communication that threatened death or serious harm, contrary to the Online Safety Act 2023.
The presiding magistrate, Colin Reeve, told Massey on Thursday: "We take the view your intentions when you made that call were clearly racist and homophobic."
He sentenced him to 12 weeks in prison, suspended for one year, ordered him to pay Ă‚ÂŁ299 and to complete a 12-month alcohol treatment requirement.
Massey, standing in the dock of the court, said after he was sentenced: "I've just got to stop drinking."
Mr Khan was asked about the case while on a visit on Thursday.
He said: "I think responsible politicians bring communities together rather than alienating them."
He said it was "really important for the Conservative Party to realise this is the consequence of putting a man like Lee Anderson as deputy chairman".
"I think they should be ashamed they didn't call out him for making comments that are clearly Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist," Mr Khan added.