London: A Conservative MP has revealed how she has installed panic buttons in her house, changed her locks, and considers leaving Parliament `on a weekly basis’ because of vicious online trolling following a feud with pressure group Fathers 4 Justice.
Caroline Nokes, MP for Romsey and Southampton North, says she fears for her and her daughter’s safety after being deluged for 18 months with emails and Facebook and Twitter messages sent by supporters of the fathers’ rights group, who have made life a `living hell’.
They included a message from a female Facebook user who said she hoped the MP would be `violently raped... and left for dead’.
Nokes said she complained to police but has decided not to bring charges. Fathers 4 Justice deny any knowledge of the woman who sent this or other threatening messages.
Nokes said the abuse so affected her family that her 16-year-old daughter asked her not to stand for re-election next year. The 42-year-old former charity chief executive, who was elected in 2010, said she was determined to continue as an MP rather than give in to `bullies’.
She added: `I probably come close to quitting the job on a weekly basis because of what they say. The thing that keeps me going is, what sort of example does that set?
`My daughter asked me not to stand in the general elections because she saw the effect it was having on me, but my view has always been: Don’t give in to bullies,’ Nokes said.
The abusive messages started after Nokes became embroiled in a row with Matt O’Connor, the founder of Fathers 4 Justice, and his wife, over childcare policy.
As The Mail on Sunday revealed last week, the increasingly bitter feud has culminated in the O’Connors accusing Nokes and her friend, former Tory lobbyist Adrian Yalland, of stalking and harassment, which they deny.
Nokes first met the O’Connors in 2010 but fell out with them after they claimed she reneged on promises made before the general election on parenting policy and the Children and Families Bill, enacted in 2012.
Nokes, dubbed one of `Cameron’s cuties’ when she was elected, had an affair revealed the same year. She says the O’Connors seized upon her divorce, questioning Nokes’s custody over her daughter, the access given to her ex-husband and naming her daughter on the Fathers 4 Justice website.
`They wanted to humiliate me and prove I had done a U-turn on the bill because I got divorced,’ Nokes said, adding she was sent aggressive anonymous letters, threats and even pairs of pants in the post.
Following these, she was `terrified’ in June last year when posts on the Fathers 4 Justice official Twitter account, run by the O’Connors, suggested they were looking for her in her constituency. One post said: `F4J protesters working around Romsey and Wellow tonight looking for @carolinenokes MP to ask her why she broke her election promises.’
Another read: `@carolinenokes MP can run, but she can’t hide. @f4jofficial in Romsey and Wellow.’
Nokes said: `I spent an entire night in my running gear. I’m not sure if that was to chase them down or to run from them. It was absolutely terrifying.’
After that, the MP said she took advice from the police and upgraded her security. `I have had cameras installed, I had a security report done. I have panic alarms installed and upgraded alarms and CCTV.’
But she also admits to driving her friend Yalland to the O’Connors’ house in Stockbridge, Hampshire, on February 20 this year, where a confrontation ensued. Yalland — who also claims he was being abused by the O’Connors — was attempting to deliver his own lawsuit for libel against the couple but this led to the police being called. Yalland was held on suspicion of assault but was never charged with any offence.
The O’Connors have subsequently accused Nokes of lying about her role in the incident, which she denies.
On Friday, the dispute came to a head at the High Court in London, with the O’Connors accusing Nokes and Yalland of harassment and stalking. An application for an injunction against Yalland was refused and he was awarded British Pounds 500 (Dh2,951) costs. The case continues.
