Conservative MP Mike Freer
An MP who was targeted by the killer of Sir David Amess told the Old Bailey he has started wearing a stab vest and panic alarm to tackle the terrorist threat he now fears.
Mike Freer’s Finchley and Golders Green constituency office was under surveillance by IS fanatic Ali Harbi Ali as he plotted a murderous attack on an MP in revenge for bombing in Syria.
Mr Freer told the Old Bailey he was due to meet constituents on a day Ali was loitering nearby but had to cancel the public meet-and-greet at the last-minute.
Ali went on to stab Sir David Amess to death at a church office in Leigh on Sea in Essex after the killer had posed as a constituent to secure a face-to-face meeting.
Mr Freer said he has now been forced to cancel most of his normal public engagements due to the terror threat while his husband insists on accompanying him in public.
“I and my staff now wear stab vests and mobile panic alarms,” he said in a statement at Ali’s sentencing hearing.
“Advice surgeries are an integral part of the system and I don’t want to stop them,” he said. “But since the attack on Sir David Amess, I have had to take sensible precautions to protect my staff and myself.
“Surgeries have been postponed until more robust security is in place.”
Mr Freer, a minister for exports and equalities, said he now limits his public appearances to venues which are secure.
“My husband is nervous about the vulnerability of advice surgeries,” he said.
“He is also anxious about me walking alone locally and using Tubes or buses. He feels he always has to be with me when outside, and won’t allow me to be on my own.”
Cabinet minister Michael Gove was also targeted by Ali who had drawn up detailed plans of how to attack the Levelling Up secretary at his west London home.
He told the court his experience was “incomparable” to the suffering and loss of Sir David’s family.
But he added: “It has, however, had a very disruptive effect on my family.
“Our security and that of our home was threatened and that has put a profound pressure on our lives.
“Like everyone who knew and worked with David, I have found the impact of losing David has been enormous.”
The Conservative MP for Surrey Heath also described the moment he found out he had been a target: “I was advised that the man being investigated for the attack on Sir David Amess was believed to have conducted reconnaissance close to two addresses connected with me.
“I was advised that these visits were conducted on (multiple dates). I confirmed to police that on all of the above dates detailed I was at the address.
“It was clear from the information that the police provided that I had in fact been a potential target of the individual responsible for the murder of a colleague.”
Ali was sentenced to a whole life prison term for the murder of Sir David on October 15 last year.
He was also convicted of plotting terrorist acts in the two years before the murder, including the targeting of Mr Gove and Mr Freer.
