Man who tried to blackmail Ashfield MP Lee Anderson jailed for 26 months
A man who tried to blackmail Ashfield’s Reform UK MP Lee Anderson has been jailed.
Robert Castle pleaded guilty to the blackmail in October and was last week was sentenced to 26 months imprisonment.
On January 23, 2023, Mr Anderson received an email from someone professing to be ‘Vicky Chambers’ requesting to meet with the MP at a pub in Mansfield as he had ‘a video recording that may be [of] interest’ if he wished to continue being an MP after the next General Election.
He went on to write in the email that he would let the MP watch the video and then he would ask for a cash offer.
Mr Anderson reported the exchange to Nottinghamshire Police who investigated before handing the case over to Hampshire Police in March.
They arrested the perpetrator, Robert Castle, on August 8, 2023, and he was subsequently charged by the CPS with blackmail on the August the following year.
Castle pleaded guilty on October 23, at a hearing at Winchester Crown Court, and last week was sentenced to 26 months imprisonment and ordered to pay a £228 surcharge.
Mr Anderson said: “I am obviously relieved that this vile person has been locked up. Blackmailing anyone is a disgusting crime that can cause anyone a whole lot of grief, but to blackmail an MP is an attack on democracy. I will never back down to blackmail.”
But he also raised concerns with how long the case has taken.
He added: “I cannot understand why it has taken over two years from the initial offence for this case to be resolved. Questions need to be asked here. Why did it take the CPS over a year to charge this individual, who was clearly guilty beyond all doubt.”
Trying to score political capital, Mr Anderson claimed the case demonstrated “a two-tier justice system” contrasted the delay to the speed at which Far Right rioters were sentenced last year.
A Hampshire Police spokesperson said that several lines of enquiry had to be pursued ahead of it being passed to the CPS, which is the point at which Castle was formally charged.
By comparison, a recent case heard at Nottingham Crown Court and reported by your Chad, concerned a violent offence against a woman dating back to 2022.