Louise Mensch 'troll' fails to turn up at court for sentencingWarrant issued for arrest of Frank Zimmerman, who was found guilty of sending offensive and threatening email
Frank Zimmerman, who told Louise Mensch she faced a 'Sophie's choice' between her children's lives in an email. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PAA warrant has been issued for the arrest of a 60-year-old man who sent an offensive and threatening email to the Conservative MP Louise Mensch after he failed to turn up at court. Frank Zimmerman was due to be sentenced at Cheltenham magistrates court in Gloucestershire on Friday afternoon but did not appear.
At a hearing at Gloucester magistrates court in April he was found guilty, again in his absence, of sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene, menacing message or matter.
Zimmerman, who is agoraphobic and lives in a run-down house in Barnwood, Gloucester, targeted the MP for Corby, Northamptonshire, last year, threatening that harm would come to her and her children if she did not stop using Twitter.
He told the MP that she faced a "Sophie's choice" – referring to a novel in which the hero must choose between the life of her son or daughter at a Nazi concentration camp.
Zimmerman denied sending the offensive emails and said he had failed to turn up at court when he was found guilty because of his agoraphobia and depression.
He attended court last month for sentencing but a district judge adjourned the case until Friday so a pre-sentence report could be completed.
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said of Friday's hearing: "Zimmerman did not appear, and a warrant for failing to surrender to bail was issued by the court, for him to be arrested and brought before the court at the earliest opportunity. The court declined to pass sentence in his absence."
Mensch received an email dated 22 August last year which said her account had been hacked. It read: "Louise Mensch, nee Bagshawe, the slut of Twitter. We are Anonymous and we don't like rude girls like you and your nouveau riche husband Peter Mensch. You have been hacked! We are inside your computer and all your phones, everywhere … and inside your homes."
The email warned that if the MP did not leave Twitter photographs of her and her family would be posted on the net. "So get off Twitter. We see you are still on Twitter. We have sent a camera crew to photograph you and your kids and will post it all over the net, including Twitter. Cuntface," it read. "You now have a Sophie's Choice. Which kid is to go? One will, count on it girl. Have a nice day. From all of us at MIT 617-253-1000."
Mensch, a strong presence on Twitter with more than 58,000 followers, called the police and organised protection for her family, but refused to give in to the threats. She tweeted: "Had some morons threaten my children by email. To those who sent it: get stuffed losers."
The email was later traced to the IP address of Zimmerman's home computer, but he denied it, saying his computer had been hacked.
At last month's appearance he told the court he would be unable to attend, saying: "I am not physically capable of walking and I have no money. I have no money; I simply cannot afford to eat."
Police officers who went to Zimmerman's house said it was in an appalling condition, with much of the premises inaccessible because of rubbish.
