UK NEWS
MUGGED MP HAD BEEN SENT DEATH THREATS
ATTACK: MP Anne Moffat was left with her mobile phone after the vicious assault near her home
By Kevin Turner
AN MP who was beaten and robbed while jogging does not believe she was deliberately targeted.
Controversial Anne Moffat has had death threats and her home was sprayed with graffiti, but she has not linked these incidents with her attack.
Ms Moffat, 50, was unable to describe any of the men who assaulted her near her East Lothian home between 8pm and 9pm on Friday.
She could only remember one was wearing a Celtic top and that the group were “drinking from cans and bottles”.
The MP says she was either pushed or tripped by a group of four to six thugs on a coastal path near the village of Cockenzie, where she lives. While unconscious, £20 in cash, a necklace, watch and ring were stolen.
The thieves attempted to remove “scratched” bracelets but ignored her mobile phone.
Ms Moffat was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where she was kept overnight.
The politician does not believe she was targeted, saying: “To be honest, I don’t think they would know who I was. I doubt if they’d be able to tell you their own names. They were quite drunk.”
Ms Moffat suffered broken ribs, severe bruising and shock. News of the attack emerged on Sunday as the politician recovered at home.
She said: “Imagine if it was a frail, old lady. I don’t know if she would have survived it.
“These people are just scum.”
In May last year, Ms Moffat was criticised for comparing First Minister Alex Salmond to Hitler.
She slammed the Scottish voting system and asked: “Is it not the case that proportional representation gave Germany Adolf Hitler and in Scotland we have the member for Banff and Buchan?”
MPs branded her remarks outrageous, but Ms Moffat did not think an apology was necessary.
She said: “What I was referring to was the voting system, the PR and electoral voting system, not about individuals. I was just giving examples.”
The following month, it emerged she had been the target of vandals after foul messages were spray-painted in black on the front door and side of her house. The graffiti, which read “RIP c***” and “f****** die”, was sprayed while the MP slept inside.
In May 2006, it emerged chilling handwritten death threats had been sent to her home.
The first page of the two-page letter had RIP scrawled in huge letters in black ink and the second had the message “You’re f*****” in the same ink.
In April 2007, the MP called in police after £100 worth of Houses of Parliament whisky disappeared from her constituency office, in Tranent, East Lothian. Ms Moffat had planned to give the bottles away as raffle prizes or for presentations.
Last November the politician defended a £40,000 bill for travel expenses. It emerged that, in 2003-4, she spent thousands of pounds on first class rail and air fares, the highest travel costs of any MP.
Lothian and Borders Police are treating Friday’s incident as assault and robbery.
Video 
