Restraining order for internet ‘troll’ who threatened Conservative MP

AN INTERNET “troll” who sent a threatening e-mail to a Conservative MP was banned from contacting a host of celebrities.

Frank Zimmerman, 60, narrowly escaped jail when a district judge suspended a 26-week prison sentence for two years after he sent an offensive e-mail to Corby MP Louise Mensch.

Zimmerman, of Barnwood, Gloucester, was taken to court by police yesterday after being arrested for failing to attend his sentencing last week. He was given the suspended sentence, ordered to pay costs and made the subject of a restraining order.

The order – which runs until further notice – bans the agoraphobic from contacting a string of well-known people. The list includes Mrs Mensch, her businessman husband Peter, and Mrs Mensch’s ex-husband, property developer Anthony LoCicero.

Lord Sugar, the Amstrad businessman and star of TV’s The Apprentice, was named on the restraining order, as was Terence Blacker, a newspaper columnist and Zimmerman’s former neighbour in London.

A previous hearing heard how Zimmerman had last year targeted the outspoken Mrs Mensch, telling her to stop using the social networking site Twitter or face the consequences.

The defendant told Mrs Mensch she faced a “Sophie’s Choice” – a reference to a novel in which a woman has to choose between saving her son or her daughter at a Nazi concentration camp.

The Northamptonshire MP, who has a Twitter following of 50,000, called the police and arranged security for her family. The offensive e-mail was later traced to the IP address of Zimmerman’s home computer.