The case of Labour MP Claudia Webbe who has been accused of harassing a woman has finally come before a court today. Many of us, including myself might have thought, before the details came out, that this was a bit of minor argy bargy that got out of hand between Ms Webbe and the alleged victim. However what has come out so far in the trial at Westminster Magistrates Court is showing us that the alleged conduct by Ms Webbe was anything but minor.
According to a report in the Telegraph, the Crown accuses Ms Webbe, who was jealous of a woman’s friendship with her partner, of threatening to send nude pictures of the alleged victim to her family, making creepy silent phone calls to the woman, calling the woman a ‘slag’ and threatening the alleged victim with an acid attack.
The court was told that Ms Webbe, who denies all the charges, that the creepy silent phone calls were made to the complainant whenever she met with Ms Webbe’s partner who was a friend of the complainant.
The Telegraph said:
On Mother’s Day, 31 March 2019, the defendant spoke to Ms Merritt during the phone call that she made and identified herself as Claudia.
Webbe queried why Ms Merritt was in touch with her boyfriend and that she was reportedly in “such a state” that she went on to call Ms Merritt a “slag” and said she should “be acid”.
The prosecutor said Ms Merritt was “caused considerable distress by this call” and that she was “alarmed and concerned for her safety”.
Ms Merritt reported the incident to the police and an officer told Webbe in April 2019 that she must not have any further contact with her.
But despite being warned by officers to stop calling, Webbe allegedly made a total of 16 further calls to the complainant, including one on April 25 last year, which Ms Merritt recorded.
Holy shit! When the original story of the alleged harassment of the woman by Webbe first emerged there were very few details given and a lot of people, including myself, thought that this complaint was based on something pretty minor. But what the Telegraph’s court reporting reveals is that the threats and alleged conduct by Ms Webbe were anything but minor. I’m not at all surprised that the victim, Ms Merritt went to the police after being allegedly called a ‘slag’ who should ‘be acid’ by Ms Webbe. A threat of an acid attack, which is what the reference to ‘be acid’ clearly means is something that would frighten anyone let alone a woman who lives on her own. What Ms Webbe is being accused of is a world away from the minor argy bargy that many of us assumed lay behind this case.
The trial continues.
