A man has pleaded guilty to sending emails threatening to shoot Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. Kieran Kyle, 43, admitted to two counts of sending communications of an indecent or offensive nature at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
The court heard that Mr Kyle sent three emails to Ms Badenoch on May 2, which contained racist references and claimed he was a former member of the IRA. In one message, he stated he would have shot Ms Badenoch when he was a paramilitary.
The messages were sent on the same day Ms Badenoch apologised for the use of Bloody Sunday footage in a social media clip criticising a bill on historical issues in Northern Ireland. Mr Kyle also emailed Ms Badenoch's husband, Hamish, on April 29, using a racist term and telling him to "put a leash on her".
Prosecutor Jennifer Dannhauser said the couple were left distressed and upset by the "racist language and threats of violence". Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring told Mr Kyle, who is of previous good character, that a custodial sentence was "a real option".