A man has been found guilty of stalking the former education secretary Gavin Williamson. The Conservative MP, who has also served as defence secretary, said he had felt “incredibly threatened” by Simon Parry, who “persistently followed” him on 24 May and 14 June. Parry, 45, of no fixed abode, was convicted of one count of stalking on Wednesday. He was cleared of impersonating a police officer by flashing what Williamson said appeared to be a warrant card and making comments about arresting him on the June date. The defendant was accompanied to City of London magistrates court by Piers Corbyn, the brother of the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who wore a top with the slogan “Resist Defy Do Not Comply!” During the June incident, Williamson said Parry had directed further comments at him about vaccinations and mentioned genocide. The politician had carried on walking while speaking to a constituent on his phone, magistrates heard.
The deputy chief magistrate Tan Ikram found there was no case to answer with respect to the police impersonation charge because the evidence was “so poor”. Ikram said: “I am satisfied that those two occasions taken collectively amount to harassment of Sir Gavin. “The defendant thinks there is humour in relation to what he does. He uploads it on to social media. “Objectively he ought to have known the course of conduct amounted to harassment. I am sure of that.” Parry denied intending to harass, distress, humiliate or intimidate the politician over the two dates when he gave evidence on Wednesday. He will be sentenced at Westminster magistrates court on 16 November. Williamson has been the MP for South Staffordshire since 2010. He was sacked as defence secretary in 2019 by then prime minister Theresa May over a leak from the national security council about Huawei’s involvement in the UK’s 5G network. He conceded he had talked to the media, but denied discussing the details behind the meeting. Last November, Williamson resigned as a Cabinet Office minister after messages emerged in which he berated the former Conservative chief whip, Wendy Morton, for not ensuring he was invited to the Queen’s funeral.