14 DAY TRIAL // The UK Metropolitan Police has arrested a man believed to be responsible for Anonymous-signed email threats sent to Louise Mensch, a member of the British Parliament's House of Commons.
A Conservative Party politician, Mensch, 40, announced on Twitter earlier this week that she received an email from an Anonymous supporter who threatened her children if she doesn't quit the micro-blogging website.
"Had some morons from Anonymous /Lulzsec threaten my children via email. As I'm in the States, be good to have somebody from the UK police advise me where I should forward the email. To those who sent it; get stuffed, losers.
"Oh and I'm posting it on Twitter because they threatened me telling me to get off Twitter. Hi kids! ::waves::
"I've contacted the police via the House of Commons and the email is with them now. I don't bully easily, kids. Or in fact at all," she wrote in a series of Tweets.
It turns out that the person responsible might not be a kid, but a 59-year-old man who was arrested on Thursday at an address in Gloucester.
"Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service's (MPS) Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) working with officers from the Palace of Westminster have today, Thursday 25 August arrested a man in connection with an investigation into malicious communication and threats made via email and a social networking site against Louise Mensch MP," the Met announced on its website.
It's not clear whether or not the man is really associated with Anonymous or if he only used the organization's name to lend more credibility to his threats. The loose nature of the hacktivist collective allows virtually anyone to perform acts in its name.
We're glad to see that Mensch's family is safe and that the alleged perpetrator was arrested. We can't help but notice the promptness of the police in this matter and we can only hope that other police investigations are solved just as fast.