Claudia Webbe. Photo: David Woolfall

A FORMER councillor threatened to share somebody else’s naked photos during a heated phone call which was played to a court this week.

Claudia Webbe, 56, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on Monday charged with harassing a woman who is friends with her partner.

Ms Webbe, who was a councillor in Islington between 2010 and 2021 and was a member of Labour’s ruling national executive committee, denied the allegations.

The claimant, Michelle Merritt, alleged the harassment took place from September 2018 up until April last year and told the court that Ms Webbe at one point threatened her with acid. Ms Webbe denies this.

Throughout the period Ms Webbe was in a relationship with Lester Thomas and the couple lived together.

The court heard how numerous calls were made to Michelle Merritt from a withheld number – they were mostly silent and of short duration. In October 2018, she says a call was made from a number identified as Ms Webbe’s.

Ms Merritt said she was phoned by Ms Webbe on March 31, 2019 and was asked why she was in touch with Mr Thomas, called her a “slag” and threatened to use acid against her. Ms Merritt phoned the police that day and also notified her employer and took taxis to work on some days as a precaution for her safety.

Ms Webbe denied calling Ms Merritt a slag, saying: “These terms and these words are not my words. I would never, ever use such expletives, such derogatory terms about another person, let alone another woman.”

The court heard the police phoned Claudia Webbe after the call in 2019 and told her not to make any further contact with Ms Merritt.

Ms Merritt appeared in the witness box behind a curtain to protect her identity. She said: “I was very scared. I really didn’t know what to do. I wanted to ensure it didn’t happen again. It is very unnerving because someone has been told not to call me and they are still calling me. I felt very unsafe in my home, leaving my home, coming back into my home.”

Ms Merritt said she noticed a pattern of calls made from a withheld number when she was out with Mr Thomas. The pair would meet up on occasion to go out for drinks with friends or to the cinema.

On April 25 last year Ms Merritt received two further calls both from Claudia Webbe’s number, the court was told.

Ms Merritt phoned back and recorded the conversation which was played to the court on Monday.

The court heard Ms Webbe say on the recording: “Why are you still engaged with Lester? Why?”

It continued: “He’s not your friend, he’s with me, I don’t want you to be in touch with him.”

Ms Webbe, who resigned as councillor in March this year after becoming an MP in Leicester, told the court she was in fact speaking to both Ms Merritt and Mr Thomas during this call.

She can be heard on the recording, saying: “Lester, take everything and go and live with her”, and also “can you get out of my relationship? I’ve seen all of your naked pictures. Get out of my relationship or I will contact your whole family and show them your naked pictures.”

Ms Webbe claimed the recorded phone call has been taken out of context, having occurred while she was arguing with Mr Thomas about breaching the Covid-19 lockdown with Ms Merritt.

“My anger on that particular day was directed towards Lester,” she said.

“It’s not my finest moment. I listened to the tape earlier. I’m embarrassed by it.”

Ms Webbe told the court Mr Thomas had given her Ms Merritt’s number and claims she made calls on occasion to find out where Ms Thomas was when she could not get hold of him.

The case goes back to court on October 13.