An Iraqi man has been given a community order after he caused an angry scene in the office of a Kirklees MP only weeks before MP Jo Cox was killed in a neighbouring constituency.
Jasem Saeed shouted at staff in the constituency office of Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff where he went demanding they help him get a passport on March 9 this year.
Saeed was cleared by a jury at Leeds Crown Court in July on charges of making a threat to kill the two case workers who saw him but had already admitted affray because of his threatening behaviour during the visit.
Mr Justice Goss who heard the trial sentenced him today from the Royal Courts of Justice over a video link to HMP Leeds where Saeed had been remanded in custody.
Imposing a 12 month community order with 120 hours unpaid work the judge warned him: “If you behave in this way again as I have already told you, you can expect a significant custodial sentence.”
The court heard after his conviction he would have already served seven months on remand by sentence, the equivalent of a 13-month jail term. Mr Justice Goss said he had come to the sentence having read a pre-sentence report on Saeed.
The 39-year-old Kurdish Iraqi from Nelson Street, Dewsbury was an asylum seeker who came to the UK in 2004 and was granted indefinite leave to remain.
In more recent times, he had decided he wanted to go back to Iraq to visit his family, but was unable to do so as he did not have his passport.
He went to the Dewsbury MP’s office in March to seek help from Mrs Sherriff in his bid to obtain a travel document.
However, when he arrived, he did not see Mrs Sherriff and instead flew into a rage.
He claimed when he was angry he spoke faster and said his outburst in the Wellington Road office had been misunderstood by the staff. He said he had no access to firearms and denied saying he was shoot 29 people at a college and then himself if he did not get a passport.
He said he had been talking about shooting students at a college in Mosul where ISIS recruits were trained.
After the trial the judge told the jury: “In any views this was an ugly episode that caused fear.
“Here, unfortunately we know three months after he was behaving in this way a Member of Parliament lost her life. That is an ongoing matter the circumstances of which we do not know the details, but people occupying such roles are entitled to be protected so far as the law can protect them.”
The judge said a psychiatric report on Saeed indicated he does not suffer from a serious psychiatric condition and in spite of the defendant’s claims had not shown symptoms of clinical depression nor post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The issues are anger control issues,” the judge added.
And he told Saeed: “You are an angry person who has little understanding of the effect of your behaviour on others. Your problem lies in poor temper control. That is something you should be aware of and something you should learn to deal with.
“If you don’t, it’s simply going to lead you into further and further trouble and mean that you will spend – I have no doubt – significant periods deprived of your liberty.”
The court heard his previous convictions included disorderly behaviour, criminal damage, driving over the prescribed limit, possessing an offensive weapon and harassment.
