‘There was a bounty on my head’: the chilling rise of the death threat

From MPs to GPs, reality TV contestants and even teachers, it seems that anyone in public life can be made to fear for their survival. What's behind the abuse - and how can it be stopped?

When Jon Burke went into local politics in 2014 he never imagined there would come a time when he considered carrying a rolling pin hidden inside his raincoat when he left the house - just in case someone jumped out of a car at me with a wrench". But his mind turned to raiding his kitchen drawers for protection last September, after Hackney council officials called him to say they had received a handwritten letter that threatened to burn down his house while he was sleeping and hurt not just him, but his wife and children.

His crime? Trying to make Hackney a better, safer place - in his eyes - to walk or ride a bike, via the introduction of low traffic neighbourhoods. As the London borough's cabinet member for transport, Burke found himself at the centre of a row that had become part of the culture wars in which four wheels were pitted against two. The anonymous letter writer made clear they were a car driver: You fucking cunts ride a bicycle," they observed.