A man has been jailed after sending hundreds of abusive and antisemitic messages to the constituency office of a prominent Jewish MP.
Kevin Smith looked confused and said “I don’t believe this”, as he was led to the cells from Leeds Magistrates’ Court after pleading guilty to religiously aggravated harassment.
District Judge David Kitson outlined how Smith sent voice messages and 300 text messages to the constituency office of Leeds Central and Headingley MP Alex Sobel between March 6 and March 15 2024.
The judge said the voice messages were “just generally unpleasant and offensive”, but many of the text messages included phrases like “kill the Jews” and “kill all the Jews, they should be arrested for war crimes”.
Smith was jailed for eight weeks by the district judge who said he had shown no remorse.
Prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) argued that Smith’s actions were a deliberate attempt to cause harm and distress.
In a statement to police, Sobel described the correspondence as “deeply disturbing” and said it had ‘
Working alongside West Yorkshire Police, CPS investigators examined the messages on Smith’s phone, confirming that Mr Sobel was a saved contact—contradicting Smith’s claim that he did not know who he was messaging.
Smith admitted to the offence at a previous hearing on 11 November 2025. He was handed an eight-week custodial sentence and a five-year restraining order.
The order prohibits Smith from contacting Sobel except in relation to genuine constituency business, and from coming within 50 metres of Mr Sobel’s constituency office.
