A former councillor has been jailed for 20 weeks after stalking Penny Mordaunt, which the former cabinet minister said left her fearing “sexual violence”.
Edward Brandt, a professional sailor, had been found guilty of the offence but was acquitted of a more serious charge of stalking involving serious alarm or distress.
The trial was told he sent at least 17 emails and three phone messages to Mordaunt, as well as turning up at her Portsmouth constituency office out-of-hours between 11 September 2023 and 12 May 2024.
She said in a statement to police that she “feared sexual violence” because of the defendant’s “creepy” behaviour.
Brandt, 61, was also sentenced for seven breaches in December last year of a stalking protection order, in place until November 2034, by failing to notify police of devices capable of connecting to the internet and of the creation of accounts on Facebook and Snapchat.
The former member of East Hampshire district council was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison for the stalking offence and eight weeks to be served consecutively.
Sentencing Brandt at Southampton crown court, Judge Mousley told him: “I am satisfied that there is a real risk of you reoffending or causing harm to other people. Also, having regard to the nature of these offences, the appropriate punishment must be by way of immediate imprisonment.”
The trial heard that Brandt, who lived on the Isle of Wight at the time, failed to comply with a verbal warning by police as well as the terms of a conditional caution issued in April 2024 that required him to complete a victim awareness course and not to contact Mordaunt.
The divorced father of two, who now lives in Lymington, Hampshire, then left two voicemail messages for Mordaunt. In one, he said: “I am going to go on gently knocking at your door in order to shake your hand, I am not giving up.”
In a victim impact statement, the former Conservative party leadership candidate said: “I am completely exhausted due to the stress. Every time I step out of the building I am looking over my shoulder and checking to see if he is there.
“I am living in a constant fear of a confrontation.”
Brandt told the court he wanted to “congratulate her” and shake her “gold-plated and precious hand”, adding that his intention “was entirely political and entirely harmless”.
He said he had been diagnosed as having ADHD and being on the autism spectrum.
Timothy Dracass, in mitigation, said: “His responsibility is substantially reduced by reason of a mental disorder or learning disorder, namely his neurodiverse condition.”
