Hartlepool veteran warned MP Jonathan Brash 'better run' in series of anti Labour Facebook messages

Dean Rusk, 56, sent three Facebook Messenger messages to Mr Brash’s official MP account in which he also said “Liebour scum” and “Liebour out”.

Mr Brash received the messages while he was on holiday with his family on August 4 last year.

He told Teesside Magistrates’ Court he had no problem with those saying “Liebour scum” and “Liebour out” but felt the apparent threat to his safety crossed the line.

Giving evidence at Rusk’s trial, Mr Brash said: “The phrase ‘If I see you you better run’, one only has to run if one is being chased, I assume with intent to do some form of harm.”

He said he regularly walks the streets of Hartlepool, often with his family and said the message had caused him “a great deal of upset”.

Mr Brash forwarded the messages to his office manager who then contacted the police.

Rusk, a father of two, who served in the Army for over 20 years, accepted sending the messages.

But he said he did not mean them as a threat, saying: “Basically, I wanted to give him a piece of my mind.”

He said he was angry at the actions and policies of Labour towards pensioners and veterans.

Rusk was found guilty of the single charge of sending a menacing message by public communications network.

Mairi Clancy, defending, said: “The message, however misjudged, wasn’t meant as any threat of violence towards Mr Brash.”

The court heard Rusk was left with partial deafness and PTSD from his time in the services, which kicked in when a large number of police attended his home to arrest him.

District Judge Helen Cousins said the message was “intended that Mr Brash had something to fear”.

She added: “This, bear in mind, is against a backdrop of two MPs in recent years being killed in their constituencies while going about their business.”

Rusk, of West View Road, Hartlepool, was fined £466 and ordered to pay £650 court costs and a £186 surcharge.