Prisoner pleads guilty to threatening to kill female MP and sending vile letters to Boris Johnson

Rakeem Malik pleaded guilty before Birmingham Crown Court.

A prison inmate sent a threatening letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and threats to kill two female MPS.

Rakeem Malik pleaded guilty to the offences which included making threats to kill against MPs Jess Phillips and Rosie Cooper, and sending threatening letters with the intention of causing "distress or anxiety" to both Theresa May and Ms Phillips.

The 53-year-old admitted eight offences in total during a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday.

Malik, who the court heard is currently a serving prisoner at HMP Birmingham on an indeterminate sentence, spoke only to confirm his name and enter pleas to the charges.

He admitted to sending a letter "which conveyed a message which was a threat and your purpose in sending it was it could cause distress or anxiety" to Mr Johnson on or about December 6, 2019.

Malik also pleaded guilty to sending similar letters to Birmingham Yardley MP Ms Phillips in December 2019, and to former prime minister Mrs May in September 2019, and when she was still in office in December 2018.

He also admitted three counts of making threats to kill West Lancashire MP Ms Cooper in May 2019 and a similar charge of making threats to kill against Ms Phillips in November 2019.

Simon Davis, prosecuting, asked for a short adjournment to allow the Crown to speak with the victims about the impact of Malik 's communications.

"The main reason is that we've had insufficient time in order to canvas the views, if I can put it in very general terms, of the victims, in this case," he said.

"Also we've not been able to get ourselves in a position to formulate an appropriate (court) order to address any future offending."

Granting the prosecution's application for an adjournment, Judge Melbourne Inman QC, the Recorder of Birmingham, said: "It's obviously necessary for the case to be put off for a short time to enable the Crown to deal with matters outstanding.

"Mr Malik has now pleaded guilty and sentence will be passed on June 11.

"There's no requirement for Mr Malik to be brought to court, the case can be dealt with as a remote video hearing."

Malik, who appeared over a video-link for the 30-minute hearing, was remanded back into custody until next month.

After the hearing, Ms Phillips tweeted: "Today I hope will be some way towards a conclusion in this case in court.

"Sending massive thanks to the police and also to my staff and other parliamentary staff who are often the first to receive gruesome threats and frightening aggression."