Anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller is thinking of leaving the United Kingdom after receiving threats of murder and acid attacks. The British-Guyanese businesswoman of Indian origin, who won a legal challenge against the government over the UK’s move to leave the European Union, said she is now afraid to leave her home.
“I have been getting threats of having acid thrown in my face for months and months now. When I see someone walk towards me on the street with a bottle of water or something, I just freak out,” she told Verdict magazine, adding that people send her death threats with their name and full address on the letters. “People are so bold that they just don’t hide,” she said.
Life has changed
Miller said her life had “completely changed” after she was made a lead claimant in the case, and in view of the recent spate of acid attacks in the country that have left the victims with grievous injuries, she feels scared for her life.
The 52-year-old founder of the philanthropic organization, the ‘True and Fair Foundation’, had initiated the case against the British government over its authority to implement Brexit without approval from Parliament. Four days after the Supreme Court ruled in her favor in January this year, Miller received hateful comments from aristocrat Rhodri Phillips, who offered “£5,000 for the first person to ‘accidentally’ run over this bloody troublesome first generation immigrant”. Phillips, the 50-year-old Viscount St Davids, was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison last month for posting the racially abusive messages on Facebook. Describing her as a “boat jumper”, he had said: “If this is what we should expect from immigrants, send them back to their stinking jungles”.
Cease and Desist
In January this year, the Metropolitan police had issued eight “cease and desist” notices to people who had sent threatening messages to Miller, the Guardian reported.
Miller said she continues to receive threats over several platforms, including LinkedIn, and the anxiety is affecting her family. She has got 24-hour security installed in her home, and has employed security guards. The family now prefers to spend weekends at home because of the threat to her security.