A man who harassed Stella Creasy MP onboard a Victoria line train has been found guilty. Clifford Wilby, 63, saw the Labour MP for Walthamstow on a train between Walthamstow Central and Finsbury Park on July 15 last year, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday.
Incident on the Tube
Wilby then blocked Ms Creasy from leaving the Tube carriage and started talking to her about knife crime and her “failings as a Member of Parliament” and filmed her before members of the public intervened, the court heard.
Other passengers asked him to stop and stood between them before Ms Creasy left the carriage.
Prior Zoom meeting
Wilby and Ms Creasy first met on a Zoom meeting in 2024 in Ms Creasy’s capacity as an MP, which was ended due to Wilby’s behaviour, Sarah Madden, prosecuting, said.
Ms Creasy, giving evidence from behind a screen, said during the online meeting he “made a series of very serious allegations”, became abusive and “referred to the fact he had been diagnosed as a psychopath”.
She said he started to make a complaint about a constituent and she reminded him that she could not discuss somebody else’s case. He became “abusive, aggressive” and they terminated the conversation, Ms Creasy said.
Court evidence
On July 15 last year, she boarded a Victoria line train, and was intending to move further down the train at the next stop, and looked up to get off the train and made eye contact with the defendant, Ms Creasy said.
She said: “He said ‘are you Stella Creasy?’, at that point my memory kicked in and I made the connection because I knew his face, he then confirmed he was Clifford Wilby.
“He stood up and blocked my ability to leave the carriage, he began talking to me about his concerns about my constituent, he was shouting although the Tube train is a loud environment.”
Ms Creasy said it was not entirely clear what he was saying at first, but that it was about knife crime, how dangerous London is and “my failings as a Member of Parliament”.
She added: “Obviously I was concerned that I was in an enclosed space with him. He was very close. “I stated very clearly this wasn’t an appropriate conversation to be having.”
The MP said she was against the door of the carriage and was holding her hands out as a gesture “to say stop”.
People on the train could see what was happening and, knowing she was the local MP, came up to intervene because of their concerns, the court heard.
One man intervened and said “she’s saying leave her alone” as he attempted to stand between her and the defendant, Ms Creasy said.
She said the defendant was becoming more agitated and was “much taller than me and he was looming over me”, then began to film.
“I was worried that because Mr Wilby was escalating, he could turn his attention and his aggression to the other people on the train trying to protect me,” she said.
Ms Creasy said she kept repeating that it was not appropriate and that she would not discuss the matters and that she wanted him to leave her alone.
A woman was telling Wilby to stop, telling him it was harassment, and encouraged Ms Creasy to sit next to her, she said.
Another man came and stood between her and the defendant and Ms Creasy said she began discussing with the people nearby how to get off the train and raise the alarm safely.
She got off the train at Finsbury Park by exiting through another door further up the carriage, adding that she believed the men distracted him long enough for her to get off.
Verdict and sentencing
Deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram found Wilby guilty of using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm, or distress and adjourned sentencing until September 8 for reports.
He said: “The defendant says I did not intend to cause her harassment, alarm or distress.
“The prosecution have persuaded me that I can infer and the only reasonable inference that can be drawn from the evidence is that he wanted her to feel threatened in the circumstances, that he intended to cause her alarm or distress.
“She made her own position very clear, she said that ‘I repeatedly asked him to stop, he didn’t, he was abusive and aggressive’ and it’s clear from the defendant’s own words, he did not care.
“In relation to the conduct of the two members of public who intervened, the situation must’ve been such that there was concern for her safety, otherwise they would clearly not have intervened as they did.
“His actions clearly were such that were not only causing alarm to Stella Creasy but his actions also demonstrated clearly that the was his intent, his intent by not desisting knowing that she wanted him to stop.
“For all these reasons I find the defendant guilty of the offence before the court.”
