Gavin Williamson ‘felt incredibly threatened’ by man accused of stalking him

Former education secretary Sir Gavin Williamson said he felt “incredibly threatened” by a man who allegedly followed him on two occasions, threatening to arrest the MP during one of the incidents, a court has heard.

Simon Parry, of no fixed abode, is said to have “persistently followed” the Conservative MP on May 24 and June 14 this year.

The 45-year-old was accused of, and had denied, impersonating a police officer by flashing what Sir Gavin said appeared to be a warrant card and making comments about arresting him on the June date, but district judge Tan Ikram found there was no case to answer with respect to that charge because the evidence was “so poor”.

Parry denies one count of stalking.

Giving evidence at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, Sir Gavin told of how Parry began following him along streets in Whitehall on two occasions after the MP walked past a protest area opposite Downing Street.

Of the May incident, Sir Gavin told the court he heard Parry making comments about vaccinations while walking in “close proximity” to him.

Asked how he felt at the time, Sir Gavin said: “It was someone who was quite aggressive towards you, someone who was not really actually wanting to have a discussion, but rather express their views or their anger or their dissatisfaction, actually.

“It felt very unpleasant.”

He added: “Of course as an MP you get a lot of people approaching you all the time.

“People are often approaching you with concerns they want to discuss… (but) done in a very different manner to that.

“You felt as if this was part of intimidation or sort of trying to make a publicity work or something along those lines.”

Of the June incident, Sir Gavin said he heard Parry making comments about vaccinations again and also about “genocide”, and eventually realised that the comments were directed at him.

The MP kept walking and speaking with a constituent on the phone, he told the court.

You sadly do hear of instances where people have used a knife or such thing in the past, so you get quite fretful as to whether you’re in that type of scenario and an incident like this just makes you more fearful

He called Parry’s “persistence” in following him from the Parliamentary estate towards Euston “quite disturbing”.

“It was quite evident that this individual was hostile to myself,” Sir Gavin said. “I was talking to a constituent who sadly that day had had to have their dog put down.”

He continued: “Why should I, you know, not do what I thought was my job because this very aggressive person was harassing me and pursuing me?”

The politician then went on to explain how he believed Parry flashed a warrant card and spoke about arresting him.

“At this point, it is getting to feel kind of more scary because it’s a confined space,” he said.

“I can hear constant references to police, police, police, and saying about arresting me and at this stage … the defendant then shows what looks like a police a Metropolitan Police badge, but it was just a crest.”

“I felt incredibly threatened by it,” he added about the June incident.

Sir Gavin said he asked the constituent he was phoning if he could continue speaking with her as a “comfort” to himself before Parry eventually stopped following him.

Asked about what impact the incidents have had on him, Sir Gavin said: “When someone is acting in such an extreme way … you don’t really know what they’re capable of doing.

“You sadly do hear of instances where people have used a knife or such thing in the past, so you get quite fretful as to whether you’re in that type of scenario and an incident like this just makes you more fearful.”

During cross-examination, Sir Gavin accepted that Parry did not say he was a police officer and the MP said he did not actually believe he was one.

“While I didn’t believe that he was a police officer, I was under the distinct impression that he was trying to give the impression that he was a police officer,” the politician said.

The court heard Parry was wearing a bright blue Superman T-shirt and shorts that day.

In his police interview following his arrest on June 15, Parry said he was not a member of a police force and that he had been referring to being able to make a citizen’s arrest when directing comments to Sir Gavin.

He also told officers that he did not have a police badge but flashed the politician a badge that read “law enforcement”, which had been given to him by the political organisation Save Us Now.

Parry denied intending to harass, distress, humiliate or intimidate the politician over the two occasions when he gave evidence on Wednesday.

He insisted he took the “opportunity” to ask Sir Gavin “important” questions upon seeing him by chance, and told the court he was “polite” – using the phrase “excuse me” to get the MP’s attention and calling him “sir”.

Parry said there was no “physical threat”, saying Sir Gavin “seems like a scared man”.

The defendant appeared at court with Piers Corbyn, the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Sir Gavin has been MP for South Staffordshire since 2010 and served in cabinet as defence secretary before becoming education secretary under Boris Johnson in 2019.

The trial continues.