A notoriously dangerous prisoner was able to use an official telephone inside one of Britain’s toughest jails to unleash a terrifying campaign of kidnap, rape and murder threats against female MPs.
Neil Preece-Smith, who was once branded ‘extremely dangerous’ by a judge, exploited a security loophole to repeatedly dial the House of Commons switchboard from his maximum-security wing.
Labour MP Nadia Whittome, former Conservative MP Lucy Frazer and Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine were all targeted by the volatile 41-year-old who made more than 30 calls in just two days.
A female parliamentary switchboard operator was also subjected to repeated threats of sexual violence, abduction and murder.
Preece-Smith, an arsonist serving a life sentence since 2007, was this week handed an additional seven-year sentence at Leeds Crown Court, and barred from contacting MPs.
The chilling calls were made from HMP Wakefield, the Category A prison dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’ because of the notorious criminals held there.
Prisoners can use authorised landlines to call approved family members and friends.
They are also entitled to confidential conversations with the MP representing the constituency in which their prison is located.
Serial offender Neil Preece-Smith (pictured) used a telephone inside one of Britain’s toughest jails to threaten three female MPs with kidnap, rape and murder
Preece-Smith plotted to kill child killer Roy Whiting (pictured). Whiting is serving a life sentence for the abduction and murder of eight-year-old schoolgirl Sarah Payne in July 2000
Preece-Smith was able, however, to enter a PIN number and dial the central House of Commons switchboard before asking to be connected to politicians’ offices.
He then left explicit messages threatening to sexually assault, kidnap and kill female politicians.
In one horrifying voicemail left for then Conservative culture secretary Lucy Frazer, Preece-Smith warned: ‘You cannot get away from me. I’m going to do to you what happened to Jill Dando.’
He claimed he had been watching the former MP and chillingly added that he had people monitoring her from inside the Houses of Parliament.
BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando was shot dead on the doorstep of her Fulham home in 1999.
The message, which was picked up by her parliamentary assistant, described in graphic detail how he intended to break into the former MP’s home, tie her to a bed and assault her.
Staff working for Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome were also left fearing for her safety after the prisoner claimed he had information about a plot to attack her.
He even named the supposed assailant during the sinister call.
Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine received a voicemail in which Preece-Smith threatened to rape her and claimed he knew where she lived.
He also alleged that he had met the Edinburgh West MP twice and kept a photograph of her on his wall.
Ms Jardine, who was then her party’s women and equalities spokeswoman, described the message as ‘alarming’ and ‘disturbing’.
The threat was ‘so distressing’ that an aide who first heard it had to switch it off ‘after only a few seconds’.
The court heard that Preece-Smith also turned his abuse on parliamentary switchboard operator Monique Cormode.
Preece-Smith told Conservative MP that he was going to ‘do to you what happened to Jill Dando’
Staff working for Nottingham East MP Nadia Whittome were left fearing for her safety after the prisoner claimed he had information about a plot to attack her
She was subjected to threats of explicit sexual abuse, kidnap and murder after being asked to put the prisoner through to MPs, including Sir Keir Starmer.
The terrifying barrage took place in November 2024, while Preece-Smith was being held at HMP Wakefield.
Phones were installed in cells on his wing and could be accessed using prisoners’ personal identification numbers.
Calls were logged and could be monitored, except for confidential calls to organisations including the Samaritans.
Preece-Smith admitted sending messages conveying a threat of death or serious harm.
Passing sentence, Judge Richard Mansell, KC, said: ‘They are particularly grave offences involving the targeting of female MPs and the issue of threats to kidnap them or rape them or even kill them.
‘In the light of the terrible murders of MP Jo Cox in 2016 and Sir David Amess in 2022, threats of this nature to serving MPs must be met with significant sentences of imprisonment to deter others from behaving this way.
‘Those who put themselves forward for public office know that they must face the risk of abuse, whether it be online abuse or in person, but none should have to put up with this kind of vile threats.
‘As for Monique Cormode, she was simply performing a public service as part of her job at the Houses of Parliament answering the phones and yet she was subjected to repeated calls over two days with those horrible threats to kidnap, rape and kill her.’
Preece-Smith observed proceedings at Leeds Crown Court on a laptop held up to the window of his cell in segregation at HMP Full Sutton near York.
The court heard he was carrying out an ongoing ‘dirty protest’.
Defending himself, Preece-Smith said he admitted making the calls but did so while under the influence of the psychoactive drug Spice.
He said: ‘That probably clouded some of my judgement in what was said. It still don’t excuse the fact that I made them calls because ultimately I did.
‘The mitigation is I was under the influence of Spice at the time. That is all I’ve got to say, your honour.’
Preece-Smith has amassed 54 convictions covering 22 separate court appearances and has an extensive history of violence, threats and serious offending behind bars.
He was first convicted as a teenager in 1995 and went on to commit offences including assault, robbery, arson and affray.
In March 2006, he was handed a life sentence at Leeds Crown Court for setting fire to an ex-offenders’ hostel because he wanted to kill people staying there.
The sentencing judge branded him ‘extremely dangerous’.
Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine received a voicemail in which Preece-Smith threatened to rape her and claimed he knew where she lived
The following year, Preece-Smith received a ten-year sentence for aiding and abetting the suicide of his cellmate, Michael Clegg, at HMP Leeds.
At a later inquest, however, he claimed he had actually murdered the 48-year-old remand prisoner.
He told the court how he tied Mr Clegg’s ankles and hands using the victim’s shoelaces while threatening him with a makeshift knife.
‘I ripped up a bed sheet, made a noose, made little cuts with the blade [on his lower back and buttocks], not to kill him, but to make him scared enough to put his neck in the noose.
‘Then I gave him three choices: to hang himself, or I would hang him, or I would cut him up.’
He added: ‘I helped him on to the pipes… he tried to use his hands to pull himself up but I pulled down on his legs until he was dead. I waited half an hour then pressed the cell bell. ‘
Preece-Smith told the jury that he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting suicide because he ‘didn’t want to get done for a serious charge’.
He was however never charged with Mr Clegg’s murder after the Crown Prosecution Service concluded there was insufficient evidence.
Preece-Smith returned to the headlines in 2016 after admitting that he planned to attack notorious child killer Roy Whiting using sharpened toothbrushes.
Whiting, now 67, is serving a life sentence for abducting and murdering eight-year-old Sarah Payne in July 2000.
In 2017, Preece-Smith made a series of bomb hoax calls claiming explosives had been left outside railway stations and in the car park at HMP Wakefield.
He received further sentences for bomb hoaxes and threats in 2020 and again in August 2024.
The court heard that his previous offences also involved the misuse of prison telephones.
On one occasion, he used a call to the Samaritans to make bomb threats.
During another call, he asked a female operator about her underwear and threatened attacks on named prison officers unless an inmate was moved from segregation.
In 2024, he falsely claimed a bomb had been planted in the HMP Wakefield car park.
Preece-Smith has been refused parole six times and is now being held under strict close-supervision conditions at HMP Full Sutton.
As well as receiving the additional seven-year sentence, he was banned from approaching or contacting any MP.
The only exception allows him to communicate with his constituency MP through a solicitor.
