Man admits making threats to kill Bishop Auckland MP for a second time

A County Durham man has admitted making threats to kill his MP for a second time.

31 year old Benjamin Clarke appeared at Durham Crown Court earlier, where he admitted a second charge of making threats to kill Labour politician Sam Rushworth, this time in February.

Last year he had messaged the Bishop Auckland MP, saying he wanted to lock him in a building and set fire to it.

No further details of the second offence were given in court.

A psychiatric examination has been carried out and a report will be prepared ahead of sentence.

Judge Francis Laird KC told Clarke, who appeared via a videolink from prison, that he will be sentenced on May 12 and he was remanded in custody in the meantime.

Previous court hearings were told that Clarke, of Durham Street, Bishop Auckland, contacted his MP in August on social media, saying: "I cannot wait for your next public appearance, you will be lucky to leave it in one piece."

Mr Rushworth blocked him from contacting him on the social media platform, preventing any further malicious communications offences.

The following month, Clarke told two mental health practitioners that he wanted to find the MP and smash his head off a pavement, to set fire to a building he was in and then "lock all the doors so I could hear him screaming".

Clarke then began the process of applying to withdraw his guilty pleas to making a threat to kill and a malicious communications offence.

He has since decided not to proceed with that application, Durham Crown Court heard on Friday.

Following the hearing in January where Clarke said he wanted to apply to change his guilty plea, he was granted bail provided that he did not contact Mr Rushworth.

But by his latest guilty plea, he has admitted making contact with the MP and threatening to kill him the following month.

Speaking after Clarke's initial court hearing in December, Mr Rushworth said political discourse needed to be cleaned up.

He said: "What starts with fake news and hate speech, progresses to harassments, threats, and can all too easily make its way into the real world."

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