An habitual pest has been found guilty of causing Dundee MP Chris Law fear or alarm by hurling threats and abuse at him outside his parliamentary office.
Dundee West SNP politician Mr Law told a trial he feared he could be the latest politician to follow in the tragic footsteps of murdered duo Jo Cox and Sir David Amess.
He said he had to take the threats outside his constituency office “very seriously indeed”.
Mr Law told Dundee Sheriff Court he feared for his safety after having threats and abuse hurled at him by Alannah Morgan.
Staff described Mr Law as being “panicked and distressed” as he entered the office in Lochee and asked senior case worker Lesley Thomson to phone police.
Feared for life
Mr Law told Morgan’s trial: “I was getting out my car and an individual shouted at me by name.
“They were 30 to 40 feet away. They started swearing at me.
“It doesn’t always feel like you have a concern but this time I did.”
He told the trial 52-year-old Morgan said: “F**K you, you will all be gone soon, the whole lot of you.”
He told Morgan he would call police and retreated into his office.
Mr Law, 54, said he was used to being heckled by political opponents but added: “I was concerned at the tone of the language.
“Anger was the clearest emotion around it.
“We lost two MPs who have been murdered and many have had death threats.
“I am not in the office and not under security in the street so obviously it’s a concern.
“I don’t think when someone shouts what they did in the tone they did, with that tagged on at the end, that it’s a political statement.
“That could be a very serious threat indeed.”
Guilty
The MP’s communications officer Gerry Moriarty said: “It was a bit of a surprise to have him at the door so frantic.
“He seemed very panicked and distressed.”
Case worker Lesley Thomson told the trial Morgan had come into the constituency office the previous day and had to be ushered out after hurling foul-mouthed abuse at staff.
He was heard to sneer: “That f**king Nicola Sturgeon.”
Morgan, of Bonnethill Court, Dundee, was found guilty of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner on Marshall Street on November 24 and 25 2022 and at Dundee police HQ on November 29.
Misgendering delay
The trial had to be halted when the transgender accused became annoyed by witnesses calling her a man.
Several witnesses had described Morgan as “he” and “him” as they detailed how she targeted the Dundee West MP.
Morgan – who once appeared in court as a man called Alan and a woman called Alannah on the same day – was annoyed by being misgendered.
Her solicitor, Billy Watt, intervened during evidence by first witness Maria Marsh, 26, to express his client’s concerns about how she was being addressed in evidence.
Sheriff Alistair Carmichael said: “I am sure the witness is not trying to be rude or anything.
“It is her perception that she is giving to the court.
“I don’t think any of us is qualified to tell her to do anything other than that.”
When she was asked to identify the accused, Mrs Marsh pointed at Morgan in the dock and said: “That’s him, there.”
Lesley Thomson also referred repeatedly to Morgan as he and him as she told the trial how she had been intimidated.
When she was asked to identify Morgan – wearing full biker leathers and sporting long straggly dyed hair – Mrs Thomson pointed at the accused and replied: “The gentleman there.”
Swastika graffiti
Before the trial started, Morgan admitted two charges of graffiti-ing business premises in Lochee High Street on 22 November 2022.
He admitted maliciously spray painting walls at The Chicken Club and Boots.
He painted a swastika and the phrase Bad Religion, although the court heard this was the logo of the band of that name.
Sheriff Carmichael said: “You aggressively delivered comments with expletives towards an MP and in the presence of MPs staff at a time when two MPs had been murdered and the topic of independence was hot.
“It is not just what you say – it is how, when and where you say it.”
Sentence on Morgan was deferred for reports.
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