Newcastle "Behead" Man Avoids Jail
A judge told a man he was like Walter Mitty as he sentenced him for threatening to behead a Ukip election candidate.
Aftab Ahmed, 44, made the comment during a heated argument on the phone with David Robinson-Young in the run up to the general election.
The 62-year-old former policeman, who was Ukip's candidate in Newcastle East, said he was left feeling extremely concerned for his personal safety.
Ahmed, of Winchcombe Place, Heaton, denied a charge of making a threat to kill but was convicted following a trial at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.
Sentencing him to a 12-month community order, Judge Stephen Earl told Ahmed:
"I'm still not convinced if I know who you are. A character I can most align you with is Walter Mitty.''
He said he was not sure whether he was the "self-assured entrepreneur'' he claimed to be or a person who makes such remarks on the phone to political parties.
But he told Ahmed he did not think the remark had been serious and that it displayed a "lack of mature thought. I am satisfied that the threat that was made from your point of view was a throw away remark at the end of an agitated phone call'' he said.
Mr Robinson-Young said in April someone calling himself Mr Khan rang him after receiving a Ukip leaflet.
He said he listened patiently for 20 minutes but warned the man he would put the phone down if he did not calm down.
The barrister, who specialises in employment law and discrimination cases, said at the time: "*Mr Khan then swore at me saying, 'you had better f** off or you will be beheaded next'.''
Mr Robinson-Young added: "This caller was ranting on and on saying that the Government supports bombing 'my Muslim brothers" abroad.
"If he had let me answer his questions I would have told him that I am the former legal officer for the Race Equality Office in Newcastle upon Tyne as well as working on behalf of Muslims many times.''
After the verdict on Wednesday, Mr Robinson-Young said he felt "vindicated'' after effectively being called a liar by the defendant.
The beheading threat, in the light of Lee Rigby's murder and Islamic State's barbarous treatment of its captives, left the lawyer feeling cold, he said.
"Someone phoning up like that, in the light of what was going on in the world, with what happened to that poor soldier in London, and Jihadi John, meant I had to take it seriously,'' he said.
"Doing what I was doing at the time, knocking on doors throughout the constituency, meant I took it as a real threat.''
Ahmed was sentenced to 100 hours unpaid work and also told to pay costs of ÂŁ1600