A man who told police he was "probably drunk" when he sent racist death threats to ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been spared time behind bars.
Liam Shaw, 21, from Birkenhead in Merseyside, admitted to sending two threatening and offensive emails to the public email address of Mr Sunak on June 15 last year.
The emails were sent when the former Conservative leader was still Prime Minister, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
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Mr Sunak's personal assistant reported the matter to police after spotting the emails.
The CPS said the language in the two emails was "racist, offensive and suggested Mr Sunak should be killed by the public".
Shaw was sentenced to 14 weeks' imprisonment at Liverpool Magistrates' Court which was ultimately suspended for 12 months.
The messages, which were sent from Shaw's phone, were traced by police to his email address and a hostel where he was staying in Birkenhead.
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Rishi Sunak | PAHe was arrested by police in September before being slapped with two counts of sending by a public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message.
When police put the allegations to Shaw, he said: "I don't even remember sending an email."
"I was probably drunk," Shaw added.
As part of Shaw's sentence, he must complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity and a six-month drug rehabilitation course.
Liverpool Magistrates' Court
| GETTYHe must also comply with a two-year restraining order, which outlines how Shaw must not contact Sunak or his constituency office during that time.
District Judge Timothy Boswell said, during sentencing, that "direct access to your constituency MP is a cornerstone of democracy".
"Misusing that access is detrimental to the democratic process," he added.
"Clearly, it is a highly aggravating factor for the offence."
CPS prosecutor Matthew Dixon said that Shaw "took to his phone that night to send racist and threatening messages to a person in an extremely important public office".
"The (CPS) has always and will continue to safeguard a person's right to freedom of expression," Mr Dixon said.
"But this is clearly a case where the comments made were utterly beyond the boundary of what is tolerable in a fair, just and multi-racial society."
Mr Dixon added that it "passed into the realm of criminality".
"Racist abuse has no place, anywhere, in this day and age," he concluded.