A Cumbrian MP says he is now going to “take threats more seriously” in the wake of the stabbing of one of his parliamentary colleagues.
Sir David Amess, who was a Conservative MP for more than 35 years, was fatally stabbed at a regular meeting with his Southend West constituents on Friday.
A 25-year-old man is currently being held under the Terrorism Act.
“I was shocked. I am in isolation (due to coronavirus) and I was at home on Friday with the news on and it came up and obviously, it was very shocking to see it unfold,” said Mr Jenkinson.
The MP says the incident made him think about beefing up security at surgeries with constituents.
“I will take advice from police who have been excellent,” he said.
He said his surgeries would continue as normal, subject to the advice of Cumbria police.
Mr Jenkinson said he was subjected to abuse “all the time”.
He said: “I don’t know how many times police have been involved with various issues and threats. It happens regularly on social media.”
He said the abuse was more often than not dealt with by his hardworking team.
He said: “I have had people release my address published online and people have contacted me on Facebook to say ‘I know where you live’.”
Mr Jenkinson said that one emailer threatened to shoot him.
“For me, the worst you can do is to change how our parliamentary democracy works,” said Mr Jenkinson.
Following the fatal attack on one of his colleagues, he said he now planned to change his outlook on some of the abuse he receives.
“I am now going to take threats very seriously, not in the way I have sometimes recently brushed them off,” said Mr Jenkinson.
“I am personally going to take them more seriously and take advice from police.”
The MP said he was hoping he would not need to make any changes in the aftermath of Sir David’s death, but that he would be consulting with police.
