The Law

A Labour MP in North London has said being called an " unfit mother" pushed her to call for a change in The Law .

A Man from Leicester told local police the Walthamstow MP's children should be taken into care due to her " extreme views".

Stella Creasy tabled an amendment to The Victims and Prisoners Bill to remove " malicious" reports from people's records after she was investigated by Social Services .

Ms Creasy said it was " distressing".

" That harassment continues to have an impact because that record exists, " the MP told.

Waltham Forest Council launched an investigation as it was legally required to do following a referral from Leicestershire Police .

But despite Ms Creasy being cleared, The Council said it was legally prevented from removing The Man 's complaint from its record.

" I sat in The Court clutching myself to stop myself from shaking because I was thinking about what This Man was doing, and thinking about My Family , " Ms Creasy told The Bbc .

" We need a way of removing a malicious complaint so that it stops being a form of harassment to continually target people in this way. "

" As a consequence of his behaviour, my children have a Social Services record, " She Said .

" That harassment continues to have an impact because that record exists and my local authority tell me that they can't delete it.

" We know in a lot of cases, victims of stalking and harassment often are subject to malicious complaints and we also know there's an increasing trend, particularly of women in The Public eye, being reported to Social Services . "

Philip Stacey, 52, was convicted of harassing Ms Creasy and her family at Leicester Magistrates' Court on 30 November.

Ms Creasy said while a shadow minister, she worked on the same stalking and harassment legislation The Man was prosecuted with.

She added: " Because I'd had the privilege of working with a range of experts on stalking and harassment, I knew it was much more serious than The Initial police response which was, 'well, he's entitled to his views, and your views are extreme because After All , you are a feminist'.

" But I also knew that because he'd continued on even when he'd been told to stop, that was a breach of The Law . "

The MP said that during The Man 's " campaign of harassment" he continually wrote to organisations including the Labour Party and The Bbc to make complaints about Ms Creasy's views.

She added: " The fact there isn't a way of removing those records feeds Into Something Everybody Knows , which is there's no smoke without fire.

" So even though people might dismiss those reports, eventually they start thinking, 'well maybe there is something here', all because somebody didn't like the views that I stand for. "

Ms Creasy said her amendment would provide a process whereby a malicious report could be removed from someone's record.

The MP added she hopes more women will want to enter politics if The Amendment is passed.

" [Targeting] someone's family is beyond The Pale , " Ms Creasy said.

" We probably need legislation now to address the fact that people's Family Members , their staff, are being targeted as a way not to promote a debate but to shut one down.

" It's not free speech if people are being intimidated or harassed in this way. "

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Source of news: bbc.com