A former council member has been sentenced to 20 weeks in prison for stalking ex-Tory leadership candidate Dame Penny Mordaunt. Edward Brandt was convicted at Southampton Crown Court for his actions, which Dame Penny Mordaunt described as causing her to fear “sexual violence.”
While Brandt was cleared of a more severe charge related to causing serious alarm or distress, the court learned that the 61-year-old bombarded the 52-year-old Dame Penny with numerous communications. This included sending a minimum of 17 emails and three phone messages, as well as showing up at her Portsmouth constituency office outside of working hours between September 11, 2023, and May 12, 2024.
In a statement to authorities, the former minister expressed her concerns of potential sexual violence due to the defendant’s unsettling behavior. Brandt, a divorced father of two who worked as a professional sailor, was also found guilty of seven violations in December 2025 of a stalking protection order that was valid until November 2034. These breaches involved failing to inform the police about devices capable of internet connectivity, as well as creating accounts on social media platforms like Facebook and Snapchat.
For his offenses, Brandt received a 12-week prison term for the stalking incident and an additional eight weeks to be served consecutively for the breaches.