POLICE are investigating reports of intimidation of Labour's Bradford West parliamentary candidate and one of her supporters.

Naz Shah was selected to represent the constituency earlier this month, following the previous candidate stepping down after four days.

She will take on sitting MP George Galloway at the General Election on May 7 for the seat he won for Respect with a 10,000 majority in 2012.

But since being selected, Miss Shah, a Bradford-born women's rights activist and mother-of-three, has complained of intimidation tactics, including finding a dead crow with grass stuffed in its beak on the doorstep of her family home and fake Twitter activity.

Labour confirmed that details of the incident involving the dead bird and the Twitter problems had been passed to police for investigation.

In addition one of her supporters, Dr Aisha Gill, an academic at the University of Roehampton, has reported matters to the police after she received two anonymous voicemail messages demanding she stop publicly supporting Miss Shah.

Miss Shah said: “These attempts by others to intimidate me and my supporters only motivate me even more to succeed. I want to show in this election that someone offering real change, who will stand up for local people and is not afraid to confront difficult issues such as violence against women can win by fighting a positive and clean campaign.

“The police have been informed and they are investigating. But my clear message to whoever it is trying these dirty tricks is that you won't beat me with intimidation - I am more determined than ever to be the champion for Bradford West in parliament that local people so badly need."

Dr Gill told the Telegraph & Argus that both messages she received were from the same Asian-sounding man. The first said she would "face the consequences" if she did not withdraw her support, and the second told her to "stop what you are doing".

"I'm not going to be intimidated in this way", she said, "It's very unsavoury."

She added that she had met Miss Shah in Bradford last summer at an event on sexual violence organised by the candidate's Sharing Voices mental health charity.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it had received an allegation of harassment and officers were investigating the matter.

Earlier this month, Miss Shah spoke of the "phenomenal" reaction she received after writing an open letter explaining the heartache of her family background which went "viral".

The letter revealed details of poverty and her mother's conviction for killing an abusive partner.