A pensioner has admitted sending a north-east MSP messages about the murder of a fellow politician – but denied they were intended to be threatening.
William Curtis will go on trial in March after pleading not guilty to behaving in a threatening or abusive manner.
But at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday, he admitted sending a message to Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson linking him to a video about the murder of Jo Cox.
In 2016, the Batley and Spen MP was shot and stabbed multiple times in the street, close to where she was due to hold a constituent surgery.
Curtis is accused of threatening Mr Stevenson with similar violence.
Representing himself, the 67-year-old said his actions were not intended to threaten the veteran MSP – and insisted there was “a conspiracy” against him.
He said: “My defence is that the journalist who wrote it told us to send it to our MP.
“It was not threatening or abusive.”
Curtis, of Southview Terrace in Aberchirder, was asked to inform the court of who he would be calling as witnesses during his two-day trial.
Banff And Buchan MP David Duguid and the creator whose video is at the centre of the court case, Richard D Hall, are among those he intends to cite.
Thomas Mair was jailed for life for killing Ms Cox, a 41-year-old mother-of-two.
