Former federal Labor MP Craig Thomson has been arrested on the NSW Central Coast for allegedly breaching an apprehended violence order (AVO) just hours after pleading guilty to domestic violence-related charges in court.
Police said they arrested Thomson at Wamberal at 2.30pm and he was taken to Gosford Police Station.
He has not been charged and is assisting police with their inquiries.
It comes after the 57-year-old pleaded guilty to several domestic violence-related charges involving his former wife at the Gosford Local Court this morning.
During the same hearing, the conditions of Thomson's AVO were relaxed.
Police took out an AVO against the former member for Dobell last year, after he sent 140 emails including two threatening ones to his estranged wife.
He spent a night in police custody in January, after breaching the AVO conditions on several occasions.
Emails Thomson sent were a concern, magistrate says
Thomson was represented in court by former NSW Labor boss-turned criminal lawyer Jamie Clements.
Mr Clements told the court that Thomson lost "everything in his life" last year when his marriage broke down.
Magistrate Michael Antrum said two threatening emails — which he described as having a mocking tone — were of most concern.
"People are entitled to be free of that tech interference."
The police prosecutor described Thomson as having "blatant disregard for court order" and agreed the most serious matters related to the two harassing emails.
Thomson showed little emotion throughout the proceedings but nodded several times in acknowledgement when he was addressed by the magistrate.
The magistrate said Thomson's early guilty plea, a letter of apology, having no criminal history in NSW and the fact he was not seeking to evade responsibility were all taken into account.
The former MP was convicted of using a carriage service to menace, harass of offend, and sentenced to an 18-month conditional release order.
He was found guilty but no conviction was recorded in relation to the AVO breaches heard this morning.
The former union official was elected as the federal member for the Central Coast seat of Dobell in the 2007 election.
In 2012, he was suspended by the Labor Party and moved to the crossbench.
The following year, he stood as an independent candidate but lost the seat to the Liberals.
He was formally expelled from the NSW Labor Party in 2014.
