CPS Wessex: Successful Hate Crime Cases March 2024

Prosecutors from CPS Wessex routinely secure successful outcomes in a variety of hate crime cases across the Magistrates’ and Crown Courts in Dorset, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and Wiltshire.

Under hate crime legislation, courts must pass an increased sentence where the prosecutor has evidenced that criminal offences either demonstrate, or have been motivated by, hostility towards a person’s race, religion, disability, transgender identity, or sexuality.

This is known as a “sentence uplift”.

We’ve picked out a selection of the hate crime cases we’ve prosecuted recently to demonstrate how seriously we take such cases, ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice and receive increased penalties.

In most hate crime cases prosecuted by CPS Wessex, defendants enter guilty pleas.

This means that the case didn’t have to go to trial and victims and witnesses did not need to attend court to give evidence.

All defendants in our case studies below received an increased sentence to reflect the seriousness of the hate crime they had committed.

Case Studies

At Swindon Magistrates' Court last month, a man pleaded guilty to two malicious communication offences, having admitted to sending messages to the victim that were transphobic and showed a hostility towards disability.

At court he was sentenced to serve 6 weeks in prison for each offence, taking the total sentence to 12 weeks, which was suspended for a period of 18 months. He would have been made subject of a community order, but the court increased the sentence to a custodial term, to reflect the fact he had committed a transphobic and disability hate crime. He was also ordered to complete a thinking skills programme and fined £300.

In a case prosecuted at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court, a man pleaded guilty to common assault, having spat at the victim, whilst also shouting homophobic words. He was sentenced to three months in prison which was then increased to four months to reflect the fact that the assault was a homophobic hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £154 victim’s surcharge.

In another case heard at Swindon Magistrates' Court, a man pleaded guilty to two public order offences, having shouted abuse at a police officer where, on being arrested for another matter, he called the officer homophobic words.

The court fined the man £120 for the homophobic public order offence and said they would have fined the man £60 but because homophobic language was used, they doubled the fine to reflect the severity of his behaviour.

In a similar case, a man pleaded guilty at Southampton Magistrates' Court to two theft charges and a racially aggravated public order offence, having shouted racist words at a police officer on being arrested for the shoplifting.

The courts fined the man for the racially aggravated public order, increasing the fine from £120 to £150 to reflect the fact he had committed a hate crime. He was also ordered to pay the victim £50 compensation.

At Portsmouth Magistrates' Court last month, a female was fined £120 having admitted a racially aggravated public order offence where she shouted racist words at the victim. The court said they would have fined her £80 but increased the fine to £120 to reflect the racist language used. She was also ordered to pay £85 costs and £40 victim surcharge.

In a case heard at Poole Magistrates' Court, a man pleaded guilty to racially aggravated criminal damage after he broke a shop door and shouted racial abuse at the victim who was working in the shop.

At court, he was sentenced to two weeks in prison which the court increased from one week, because racist language was used towards the victim and the incident was a hate crime.

Finally, at Southampton Magistrates' Court, a man pleaded guilty to a religiously aggravated common assault, having been aggressive towards the victim, lunging at him and using language that was derogatory towards a religion.

The courts fined the male £150 for his behaviour and announced that they had increased the fine from £100 because the offence was religiously aggravated and the male showed a hostility towards the victims religion. He was also ordered to pay the victim £100 in compensation, court costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £60.