Prisoner phoned MPs from HMP Wakefield and threatened to kill them 'like Jill Dando'
He made sickening suggestions he would rape female MPs
A prisoner deemed as dangerous to the public was able to call MPs from behind bars and make vile threats to rape and kill them.
Neil Preece-Smith, who has been serving consecutive jail sentence for more than 20 years, used the communal prisoner phones at HMP Wakefield.
The 41-year-old contacted the office of Samantha Niblett, Labour MP for South Derbyshire, to which he made threats against Conservative politician and former Cambridgeshire MP, Lucy Frazer.
He targeted Nottinghamshire East’s Labour MP, Nadia Whittome and Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West.
He also made threats to a switchboard operator at the House of Commons.
The calls were placed over two days on November 19 and 20, 2024, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Richard Walters said that prisoners are permitted to use the phones in HMP Wakefield, but they are monitored and recorded.
Over the two-day period, Preece-Smith rang the House of Commons 30 times, asking to be connected to various people.
He then made threats to the call handler, telling her he knew where she lived and that he was going to rape and kill her.
He then left a voicemail for Ms Frazer, saying he would kidnap and rape her. He told he had been watching her “from a distance” and chillingly said: “I’m going to do what happened to Jill Dando.”
Ms Dando, a BBC journalist and TV personality, was murdered on the doorstep of her London home in April 1999.
Shortly after that call, he made another to the constituency of Ms Whittome, saying he was a member of the public, gave a false name and said someone was going to attack her before providing a name.
Finally, he rang the office of Christine Jardine, who is a prominent spokesman for women and equality. He claimed he had seen her on TV and was coming to attack her and rape her.
The calls were quickly traced back to Preece-Smith, but he refused to be interviewed.
He eventually admitted four counts of making threats of serious harm.
Preece-Smith was given a life sentence in 2006 for arson, then a year later given another 10 years for assisting the suicide of his cellmate.
He has since received sentences for making bomb hoaxes from prison.
He appeared in court today over a video link from HMP Full Sutton in York, but through a glass observation panel to a cell because he is currently undertaking a “dirty protest”.
He was not represented, but told the judge: “At the time I was smoking spice. It does not excuse my behaviour.
“I did make those calls ultimately, but I was under the influence. It probably clouded some of my judgement.
“It still does not excuse it and I deserve a sentence.”
Judge Richard Mansell said the threats had been an “escalation” in the seriousness of his offending.
He said that a significant sentence must follow, particularly in light of the murder of MPs such as Batley and Spen’s Jo Cox in 2016 and Southend MP David Amess in 2021.
He handed Preece-Smith a new seven-year sentence and a restraining order to prevent him contacting the MPs.