The harassment of Stella Creasy MP on Twitter has continued after she was sent an image of a masked man brandishing a knife.

The accompanying message, from the now suspended user @Murkztah_, read: “I’m gonna be the first thing u see when u wake up..”

The 36-year-old Labour MP for Walthamstow was threatened with rape and received bomb threats on the social media site after supporting feminist campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez in her campaign to have an image of a woman on banknotes.

The image is believed to be taken from a scene in the horror film Halloween.

Ms Creasy said: “It just has to stop. That’s the main thing and that’s my message.”

The image is the first picture threat she has received.

“This isn’t about attacking an MP it’s about stopping people who think it’s acceptable to attack women like this,” she said.

“Confronting these people is something we need to do for society to move forward.

"This kind of tactic is being used to reduce the number of people in online spaces."

When asked if she was scared by the threats she said she was not going to give those making threats the satisfaction of her fear.

She is among a number of high profile women in the public eye to be harassed online.

Ms Creasy also said she had encountered some criticism for apparently focusing on the online harassment issue and neglecting her constituency as a result.

She said: “Anybody who knows me knows how much I care about Walthamstow.

“I can absolutely promise your readers I’m doing what I always do for Walthamstow."

She said she thought people elected her, in part, to stand up to equality and that her actions in response to the threats were thus in line with the rest of her work.

She added that the support and understanding shown to her by residents during the ordeal has been “fantastic”.

“That’s what Walthamstow is like, we stick together,” she said.

Scotland Yard said it has launched an investigation into eight allegations of online abuse and threats.