Investigation after former Anglia TV presenter was sent email threat linked to House of Commons IP address

Freelance football commentator and TV presenter Dan O’Hagan, who has also worked on Match Of The Day, Eurosport and ESPN, posted an email on Twitter from somebody who was threatening to find out his home address.

And Mr O’Hagan said his own checks on the origin of the email seemed to suggest it had come from an IP address connected to the House of Commons.

The email, signed as being from ‘David’, stated that the writer was “working very, very hard” to get Mr O’Hagan’s address.

It said: “You cannot be allowed to belittle, mock and intimidate working class white men, whilst peddling your bourgeoisie, privileged leftism in your highly paid career.

“Football is not for white elites like you, it belongs to working class men of all colours.

“Send me your address now and we can discuss this further in person. It is important that we do so.”

Having used a tool to trace the origin of the message, Mr O’Hagan said it has come from a House of Commons IP address.

An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a number used to identify a device on a computer network. However, IP spoofing can be used to impersonate addresses.

Mr O’Hagan said; “When I saw that, my jaw just dropped. It was incredible. My first reaction was that it had to be fake, but the fact the House of Commons are investigating shows they are taking it seriously.

“When I opened it, I was shaking, thinking someone might come to try to find me, but the police have been fantastic at reassuring me.

“I just hope that they can find the perpetrator, although I doubt we’ll ever publicly know who did this. But it is frightening if you stop and think about it. I’m a journalist, who has posted some comments which are anti-Brexit and anti-government and I’ve been threatened by someone within the House of Commons. It’s like some dystopian film.”

Mr O’Hagan tweeted the message to the House of Commons and UK Parliament Twitter accounts asking: “Can you find out who is sending out far-right threats from your IP address.”

The UK Parliament account last night confirmed that it was investigating the matter. They tweeted: “We take threats of this nature very seriously and are investigating the matter now. A member of our digital team will be getting in touch with you via email too.”

A House of Commons spokesperson said: “We are aware of an threatening email received by a television presenter. We take threats of this nature very seriously and are investigating the matter now.”