A man who suffers from serious learning disabilities has received a two-year jail sentence on Friday after sending death threats to Theresa May during her tenure as Prime Minister.
Judge Philip Bartle QC sentenced 27-year old Wajid Shah, who is said to have an IQ of 58 which is considered "extremely low range", to 24 months incarceration.
Bartle said the evidence for Shah's conviction was "overwhelming" for all six counts that he had issued email communications to a number of victims with the intention of causing "distress or anxiety".
Following a six-day trial, the judge said that the jury was sure Shah had sent the "extremely offensive and abhorrent" emails that contained "vile abuse".
Shah vulgar emails in 2019 to Mrs May as well as five others in political posts, namely: Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Blunkett and then-immigration minister Caroline Nokes.
Baroness Lister, Mark Lancaster who was serving minister for the Armed Forces at the time, and Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi were also recipients of the abusive emails from Shah.
Other attempted virtual threats were also made, including towards Boris Johnson, but intercepted. Shah, who hails from Connaught Road in Slough, Berkshire, warned that he would kill Mrs May with "a knife or a gun", and called Lord Blunkett a "retarded blind bastard".
Speaking at Southwark Crown Court, Prosecutor Barry McElduff said Mrs May found the email "extremely offensive, threatening and disturbing" and was "left feeling anxious and concerned".
The court heard that Mrs May had occasionally received abusive messages as Prime Minister but what made this one different was the "explicit and repeated" threats to kill and also the proximity of the sender.
Shah was initially arrested on 30 March, 2019 but persisted in committing further offences and he was subsequently rearrested on 15 April same year.
The offences took place between March 27 and April 11, 2019.
