A man has been convicted of threatening to behead a Ukip election candidate.

Aftab Ahmed, 45, made the comment during a heated phone call with David Robinson-Young at the end of April, in the run-up to the general election.

The defendant denied a charge of making a threat to kill but was convicted following a trial at Newcastle Magistrates' Court.

Ahmed, of Heaton, will be sentenced tomorrow.

After the phone call, Mr Robinson-Young said he was left extremely concerned about his personal safety.

He said someone calling himself Mr Khan rang him after receiving a Ukip leaflet.

Mr Robinson-Young said he listened patiently for 20 minutes but warned the man he would put the phone down if he did not calm down.

The barrister, who specialises in employment law and discrimination cases, said at the time: "Mr Khan then swore at me saying, 'you had better f*** off or you will be beheaded next'."

Mr Robinson-Young added: "This caller was ranting on and on saying that the government supports bombing 'my Muslim brothers' abroad.

"If he had let me answer his questions I would have told him that I am the former legal officer for the Race Equality Office in Newcastle upon Tyne as well as working on behalf of Muslims many times."

Mr Robinson-Young, a 62-year-old former police officer, was Ukip's candidate in the Newcastle East constituency and came third, polling 4,910 votes

Following the hearing, Mr Robinson-Young felt "vindicated" after effectively being called a liar by the defendant.

The beheading threat, in the light of Lee Rigby's murder and IS's barbarous treatment of its captives, left the lawyer feeling cold, he said.

"Someone phoning up like that, in the light of what was going on in the world, with what happened to that poor soldier in London, and Jihadi John, meant I had to take it seriously," he said.

"Doing what I was doing at the time, knocking on doors throughout the constituency, meant I took it as a real threat."

He said he did not believe Ahmed would receive a jail sentence.