Wednesday 25 May 2022 04:10 PM Claudia Webbe's love rival, 59, admits she DID have sex with politician's ... trends now
The woman who MP Claudia Webbe threatened with acid during an 18-month harassment campaign was having sex with the politician's partner, a court has heard.
The former Labour MP for Leicester East, 57, allegedly branded Michelle Merritt, 59, a ‘s**g’, threatened to throw acid at her and said she would post naked photos of her to her family, in a string of phone calls between September 2018 and April 2020.
Prosecutors say Webbe, who sits as an independent after being expelled from the party, was driven by 'obsession' and 'jealousy' over her then boyfriend Lester Thomas's relationship with Ms Merritt.
The MP, who was elected in 2019, is appealing against her harassment conviction and 10-week suspended jail sentence, after she was found guilty at Westminster Magistrates' Court last November following a trial.
She was also ordered to pay £1,000 to Ms Merritt in compensation after District Judge Paul Goldspring said she ‘intended to cause real alarm and distress to her’, and given 200 hours of unpaid work.
Former Labour MP for Leicester East Claudia Webbe allegedly branded Michelle Merritt a ‘s**g’, threatened to throw acid at her and said she would post naked photos of her to her family. Pictured, Webbe outside Southwark Crown Court today
Southwark Crown Court heard Ms Merritt's phone has been examined by police and downloaded since the trial, revealing sexual messages between her and Mr Thomas, a consultant at Crossrail, football coach, and scout for Chelsea.
He had dated Ms Merritt some 15 years ago, but magistrates did not hear that Ms Merritt was still having sex with Thomas in a ‘friends with benefits relationship.’
Webbe, a former adviser to the National Police Chiefs Council on firearms, said she split up with Mr Thomas in March this year after learning of the messages.
'I had no idea about the relationship between Michelle Merritt and Lester Thomas, that this relationship had been going on throughout the entire time of my relationship with Lester,' she said.
'Therefore I was shocked and could not deal with that.'
The court heard that Mr Thomas bought Ms Merritt a £120 sex toy that ‘never got used’ and frequently sent her pornography.
In June 2019, Ms Merritt texted Mr Thomas about a ‘new sex toy’ she had ordered, the court heard.
Helen Law, representing Webbe, suggested a 'glaring omission' in executive assistant Ms Merritt's accounts in police witness statements and evidence in court was that 'you and he were having sex'.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, Ms Merritt admitted having sex with Mr Thomas, who she described as a 'narcissist who likes attention', between March 2017 and July 2020.
'Mr Thomas and I talked about sex a lot,' she said. 'Other people would talk about fashion, we would talk about sex.
'May I also add I'm single, not him, and I have done nothing illegal.'
Webbe's boyfriend Lester Thomas dated Ms Merritt some 15 years ago. Detail about them having sex for more than two years was left out of the initial trial at Westminster Magistrates. Pictured, Webbe and her ex, Mr Thomas arriving at Westminster Magistrates Court on November 4, 2021
Ms Law suggested Ms Merritt's evidence at Webbe's trial that Mr Thomas was just a 'good friend' could have been 'misleading to the court', and said: 'Your phone download showed you had lied.'
The complainant said: 'I had not lied about having sex with Mr Thomas. No-one asked me in the magistrates' court.
'The
