Man convicted of terrorising Newbury MP Laura Farris

A NEWBURY man has been given a suspended prison sentence for waging a campaign of terror against MP Laura Farris.

Mrs Farris said in a victim impact statement how she had been "absolutely terrified" by the "relentless... obsessional... fury and fixation" of her constituent Ian Howgate.

The 56-year-old, of Ley Gardens, Speen, was convicted in his absence for menacing Mrs Farris after reportedly stating he did not recognise the authority of the court to try him.

But when, the following day, he also refused to appear at another, related trial for contempt of court, the patience of senior district judge Tan Ikram ran out.

He ordered police to arrest Howgate at home and bring him to the dock immediately to be sentenced.

During the contempt hearing it emerged that, after being warned about his behaviour, Mr Howgate recruited an accomplice – self-styled "top-rate investigative journalist" Brian Radford – to continue harassing Mrs Farris on his behalf, the court heard.

Richard Milne, prosecuting, told Westminster Magistrates' Court sitting in Reading on Thursday, November 4, how Mrs Farris was a newly-elected MP in December, 2019, when Mr Howgate immediately complained she was ignoring him.

He began making impossible demands of her and the bombarding emails soon became abusive, said Mr Milne, and in once case expressed Mr Howgate's frustration and his "right" to "confront" Mrs Farris.

He added that if he continued to feel ignored he would become "merciless" towards her.

Mrs Farris eventually told Mr Howgate his emails were "aggressive and unacceptable".

She wrote: "Neither myself nor my staff will respond to such comments. If you continue it could be considered harassment, which is a criminal offence."

Mrs Farris told the court she had never had to write to a constituent that way before or since.

Mr Howgate then responded with what Judge Ikram deemed a "direct threat".

In it, Mr Howgate referenced the Samurai sword killing of Andrew Pennington, who died trying to protect MP Nigel Jones in his constituency office in Cheltenham in January 2000.

Mr Howgate drew parallels between the killer's mental state and his own; he had warned "the clock is ticking" and told Mrs Farris that, rather than protect her by putting themselves in harm's way for her sake, her staff would "throw you to the lions".

He concluded: "Rest in peace Andrew Pennington."

Giving evidence, Mrs Farris told the court: "Furious emails would come in but there was nothing I could do – he wouldn't tell me any facts... it was intense fury... relentless, bordering on obsessional."

Mr Howgate seemed fixated with meeting Mrs Farris in person without giving a clear reason, the court heard.

In her victim impact statement Mrs Farris said: "It became very scary – the final email felt like a direct threat of violence. I was absolutely terrified. It was a weird, obsessive interest in me which always appeared to necessitate me meeting him – which I refused to do. It was a combination of fury and fixation... I feared for my and my family's safety.

"If I see someone walking past my window I always worry it's him."

Mr Howgate was convicted in absence of sending a menacing email but the following day again refused to attend a second trial – this time for contempt of court.

Mr Milne said Mr Howgate had been sent confidential court documents in order to defend himself and had been expressly warned not to show any third party.

But he showed them to Mr Radford, who then fired off numerous emails to Thames Valley Police, describing himself to detectives as a "top rate investigative journalist".

An officer told the court: "It's a claim he makes... [his emails] don't quite make sense".

The papers illegally disclosed by Mr Howgate revealed that Mr Radford himself had been investigated for harassing Mrs Farris on Mr Howgate's behalf, the court heard, after sending emails to her previous employers and also to the Bar Association where Mrs Farris is an accredited barrister.

However, the judge was told that no formal case against Mr Radford was opened.

In one email exchange, the court heard, Mr Radford told Mr Howgate: "Hi Ian; of course I want to hear more. Do you believe they've bugged my line? What a great story that would be."

Det Sgt Darren Little said: "Mr Radford suggests he is a freelance journalist – but the articles I've seen written by him often feature Mr Howgate. He was making constant threats to publish stories. He was warned it was a live investigation. I believe any queries he made were not for the purposes of journalistic investigation."

Mr Howgate was today (Friday) convicted of contempt of court and a warrant was issued for his immediate arrest.

When he was brought to the dock by police officers, Judge Ikram told him that he had continued to harass Mrs Farris via Mr Radford's activities and said: "Mrs Farris was a newly-appointed MP, receiving a series of increasingly aggressive emails.

"She responded in a courteous and professional manner.

"You didn't take no for an answer... you didn't stop. Good people will be deterred from public service if they face threats in emails or the physical threats they've faced in the past few years."

Mr Howgate, who has no previous convictions, was sentenced to a total of 20 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.

In addition, he was ordered to pay £500 costs, plus a statutory victim services surcharge of £122.

Finally, he was made subject to a five-year restraining order forbidding him from contacting Mrs Farris or her staff, either directly or indirectly.