Police Decide No Crime In Scottish MP ‘Death-Threat’ Tweet

Joanna Cherry speaks at the For Women Scotland and the Scottish Feminist Network demonstration outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, ahead of the vote on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill on Dec. 21, 2022. PA Media

The police has confirmed receiving a report of a tweet that threatened to “kill” an MP, but said the message did not meet the criminal threshold.

The MP, Scottish National Party’s (SNP) Joanna Cherry, said “further threats” have been sent to the police.

The message reported to the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday was allegedly posted on Twitter under an image of  Cherry following a heated parliamentary debate on whether to define “sex” as biological sex in law.

According to a screenshot shared by Cherry, the message reads, “I'd kill her with my bare hands if I ever saw her irl [in real life].”

The account that allegedly posted the message no longer exists.

The MP told The National on Tuesday that the tweet had been “reported to the appropriate parliamentary authorities and the police.”

In an email to The Epoch Times on Wednesday, the Met said officers had assessed the content of the tweet and found that it “did not meet the criminal threshold for an offence.”

“The tweet has been logged for intelligence purposes and shared with security partners,” a spokesperson said.

The tweet was posted after a clip showing Cherry and two other MPs acting bewildered during a parliamentary debate went viral on Twitter.

In the clip, Cherry was seen rolling her eyes and saying “What rubbish” after SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said: “Another trans person came to me. ... When they heard about biological sex being included in the Equality Act and this change being made, they said, ‘What hope is left? Should I just kill myself now and be done with it?’” and claimed, “They will not rest until trans people are excluded from public life.”