Man sentenced for sending offensive emails to politicians

A man who sent racist and abusive emails to two politicians in 2019 has been sentenced.

Richard Devereux, 55, sent a highly offensive email with racist content to David Lammy MP on 30 May 2019.

The email was opened and read by Mr Lammy’s personal secretary, who then reported the message to police. The police investigation confirmed that the sender email address was linked to Devereux.

Examination of his phone revealed that on 6 June 2019, Devereux used the same Gmail account to send a further email with racist and religious insults to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

The defendant was charged with sending a racially abusive email to Mr Lammy for the purpose of causing distress or anxiety and sending to Mr Khan a racially and religiously abusive email for the same purpose.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced today at Snaresbrook Crown Court, to 12-month community order; the judge stated he had increased the sentence passed to reflect the racially and religiously aggravated nature of the offences.

Additionally, a restraining order was imposed banning Devereux from contacting the victims or any member of their staff either directly or indirectly.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Paul Goddard, from the Complex Casework Unit of the Crown Prosecution Service in London South, said: “Hate crimes are particularly serious offences as they attack their victims’ identities.

“The defendant attacked his victims with language which singled them out on the basis of their racial and religious backgrounds. His behaviour was intended to cause, and did cause, considerable distress.

“There should be no doubt the CPS takes all cases involving hate crime and abuse of public servants extremely seriously and will continue to prosecute those who carry out such crimes.”

Lionel Idan, Chief Crown Prosecutor for London South and national hate crime lead, said: “Politicians operate in a context in which they can often be the target of criminal conduct. Crimes committed against them imperil both the democratic process and public service, and the CPS takes this very seriously.

“No one in our society should be targeted because of who they are or what they do. Wherever our legal test is met, we will not hesitate to prosecute such crimes of hate.

“I hope this conviction and sentence sends a clear message that those who perpetrate these forms of hate crime will be brought to justice.”