A PENSIONER who emailed his Muslim SNP MP urging her to support air strikes in Syria was fined £500 for couching his communication in “grossly offensive terms”.

James Learmonth, 68, emailed his constituency MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh on December 1, 2015 ahead of a Commons vote on the issue - that eventually approved air strikes by a majority of 174 - to lobby her in favour of military intervention.

His e-mail was not opened until December 18 - well after the vote - but on Monday Alloa Sheriff Court heard its content shocked a party worker in Westminster who dealt with it.

Addressed to Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh, 45, a practising Muslim, it read: “Dear Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh. Feel free to bomb the Muslim b**tards to oblivion.”

Prosecutor Gail Russell said: “It wasn’t seen by Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh, but the office worker who read it found its contents to be racist and offensive and forwarded it to his senior manager.”

Party officials reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police, and Leamonth, a retired staff nurse, was then interviewed by police in Scotland.

Learmonth, of Donaldson Avenue, Alloa, pleaded guilty to sending at e-mail that “contained grossly offensive remarks” from his home to Mrs Ahmed-Sheikh’s constituency office in the Clackmannanshire town.

The charge did not explicitly suggest that the offence was aggravated by racial prejudice.

Defence agent Toni Pentecost said Learmonth had sent the e-mail on a day that a British woman had lost her life in the conflict.

Miss Pentecost said: “Mr Learmonth accepts he is free to express his political views and to ask his MP to vote in accordance with his wishes, but the language he used on this occasion was unacceptable.

“He was very angry that the British lady had lost her life, and he was blinded by his anger and his frustration on the day he sent it.”

She said Learmonth “accepted with hindsight” that the e-mail would be been offensive to someone receiving it.

Sheriff David Mackie said he would deal with the case by monetary penalty.

He told Learmonth: “The consequences of this lack of judgement on your part will be a £500 fine.”

After the case, Learmonth told a reporter that he did not want to comment.