Man in court charged with threatening to kill Wearside MP Bridget Phillipson

Colin William Brown, 49, appeared before South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court charged with making threats to kill Bridget Phillipson, MP for Houghton and Sunderland South.

Brown is also charged with threatening behaviour and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Paul Anderson, prosecuting, said: "He has made a threat to kill the MP Bridget Phillipson."

Mr Anderson said the incident happened at Hopewood Park Hospital in Ryhope where Brown is living as a patient.

Mr Anderson told the court of allegations that Brown also threw boiling water across the ward and picked up two chairs and threw them at a window, injuring a female.

No pleas were entered to the charges and the case was committed to be heard at Newcastle Crown Court next month.

Brown was given conditional bail, which included not entering Houghton, not approaching Ms Phillipson or going to any event she may be at, not contacting her office or home and not to go within 50 metres of a mosque.

Ms Phillipson was elected at the 2010 General Election for Labour and she was the first MP to be declared to be elected to the 2010 and 2015 Parliaments, the latter with a majority of 12,938. She was re-elected in 2017 with a majority of 12,341.

She was educated at St Robert of Newminster Catholic School in Washington before studying modern history at Hertford College, Oxford.