A former secondary school teacher who sent Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and her husband racist emails and claimed to have been in the IRA has been jailed for 20 weeks.
Kieran Kyle, 43, wrote to Mrs Badenoch’s parliamentary email address: “When I was in the IRA I would have shot you f****** dead,” Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Monday.
In two earlier emails, Kyle had made racist references and written: “I’m ex-IRA, so Bloody Sunday references from you are going to give you trouble,” the court heard.
Emails Sent After Bloody Sunday Apology
The messages were sent on May 2, the day Mrs Badenoch apologised for footage from Bloody Sunday being mistakenly used in a social media clip to criticise a parliamentary Bill on legacy issues in Northern Ireland.
The Tory leader had said she did not sign off the video and that it was sent out by “very young people”.
The video criticising the Northern Ireland Troubles Bill, posted to her social media channels on April 28, showed Mrs Badenoch saying the Labour legislation would “drag” Troubles veterans back to court.
Thirteen unarmed civilians were shot dead when members of the Army’s Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in the Bogside area of Londonderry on January 30 1972, a date that became known as Bloody Sunday.
Court Hearing and Sentencing
Kyle, who had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to two counts of sending communication of an indecent or offensive nature, was sentenced on Monday by Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring.
The court heard Kyle, of Gillingham, Kent, also sent an email to Mrs Badenoch’s husband Hamish on April 29, which used a racist term and said she had a “big mouth” and he should “put a leash on her”.
The defendant wrote again on May 2, using a racist term and saying “misusing Bloody Sunday is a new low, pray she never ends up in Belfast cos she’ll be left face down in a ditch with a bullet in her head”, the court heard.
Defence and Victim Impact
Baiju Thittala, defending, told the court Kyle “did not know” who Mrs Badenoch was at the time of the offences, adding “he only realised later, once he had sent the emails”.
Asked by the judge how Kyle, a former secondary school teacher, could not know who Mrs Badenoch was, Mr Thittala said: “He just ‘Googled’ it and it came up as the opposition leader.”
The judge said: “The first emails were sent to Mr Badenoch, so I don’t think he did not appreciate who Mrs Badenoch was. So he clearly knew who Mrs Badenoch was because he researched her husband’s details first.”
Mr Thittala also told the court Kyle had never been an IRA member, despite claiming so in his emails.
Prosecutor Ben Holt said the North West Essex MP and her husband were left “distressed” and “upset”, particularly by the “racist language and threats of violence used towards them”. He added Cheryl Bacon, head of Mrs Badenoch’s parliamentary office, said that the emails were “disgusting” and “distressing” to read.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by Mr Holt, Mr and Mrs Badenoch said: “Our primary concern arising from this offence is not the personal impact on us, but the wider consequences that malicious communications and targeted harassment have on our democratic life. When individuals choose to intimidate, threaten, or aggressively target elected representatives or public figures, the harm extends far beyond any single person. It undermines a healthy democracy. Public service relies on people being willing to step forward, often at significant personal cost, to represent their communities and contribute to public life. Increasingly, however, those who do so face hostility, harassment, and attempts to silence or intimidate them.”
The statement continued: “Harassing politicians and public figures damages our democracy, deters good people from entering public service, and diminishes the quality of leadership available to us all. That is the real impact of this offence, and it is why addressing such behaviours matters.”
The judge also handed Kyle a restraining order, meaning he cannot contact Mrs Badenoch, her husband or her parliamentary office for five years.
