CPS West Midlands: Successful Hate Crime Cases July 2023
In July 2023, CPS West Midlands Magistrates' and Crown Court units successfully prosecuted various hate crime cases.
A man was sentenced in June 2023 after he admitted threatening and spitting at an emergency worker. On 26 February 2023, he assaulted a woman and when a Revenue Enforcement Officer at Ramsgate station assisted the woman, the defendant spat at him which landed on his clothes. He tried to spit at and bite the victim again before suffering a fit. He was taken to hospital for treatment, and he threatened the police officers who attended and also hurled homophobic abuse towards one of the officers. He was charged with assault by beating and intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress to reflect his conduct towards the police officer. He was sentenced on 30 June 2023 at Medway Magistrates’ Court to 21 days' imprisonment for the assault. He was also sentenced to 28 days' imprisonment for the public order offence which the court uplifted by seven days to reflect the hate crime. He was ordered to pay £100 to each victim and a restraining order was imposed to prevent him from contacting the station staff for two years unless it was within their usual course of duties as Revenue Enforcement Officers.
A man appeared at Bolton Magistrates’ Court on 18 July 2023 where he pleaded guilty to causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress after he threatened to assault, and racially abused a Bolton station staff two years ago. He was sentenced to 12 weeks which was suspended for two years. The court announced that they had uplifted the sentence by four weeks to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £75 compensation to the victim and the £128 victim surcharge.
The defendant was sentenced at Newcastle Under Lyme Magistrates’ Court on 11 July 2023 after he admitted sending a racist message to a footballer. He received an 18-month community order to include 200 hours of unpaid work which had been increased by 50 hours to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £300 compensation to the victim, costs of £750 and the £114 victim surcharge.
The defendant was sentenced on 5 July 2023 after he pleaded guilty to racially abusing and threatening his neighbour and damaging his neighbour’s car. He was charged with racially aggravated harassment with fear of violence and two counts of criminal damage. He received a six-month custodial sentence which was suspended for 18 months and had been increased by two months to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £900 compensation to the victim and a restraining order for two years was imposed prohibiting him from contacting the victim and attending the road where they live.
A man was sentenced at Worcester Magistrates’ Court on 11 July 2023 after he racially abused staff in a Leominster store. He also stole alcohol from a supermarket in Leominster on three occasions that month. He was charged with causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress and three counts of shop theft. He received a £120 fine for the racially aggravated public order offence which had been increased to reflect the hate crime. He was also fined £40 for each shop theft and ordered to pay £55 compensation to the shop. He was ordered to pay prosecution costs of £135 and the £122 victim surcharge.
On 17 May 2022, the defendant racially abused two paramedics who were treating him after he was involved in a road traffic collision in Winson Green. He continued his racist abuse at the hospital where he racially abused two nurses. He was charged with four charges of causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress which he denied but was convicted in his absence. He was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 10 July 2023 to 10 weeks' imprisonment for the racially aggravated public order offences.
A man has received a community order having pleaded guilty to racially abusing a fellow pupil at Sutton Coldfield College. The defendant made threats towards the victim and hurled racially abusive words at her. The defendant initially denied the offence but pleaded guilty to causing racially aggravated public order offence on the day of his trial. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order. The sentencing judge commented that he would have imposed an absolute or conditional discharge but for the racial aggravation.
A man has been imprisoned for assaulting two males in a homophobically motivated attack. The two male victims were walking home from a night out holding hands when the defendant confronted them for holding hands. A member of the public attempted to assist however the defendant assaulted one victim by striking him with a glass bottle. The victim sustained a cut which required gluing. The defendant then assaulted the second victim by hitting him with a pole causing bruising to the victim’s elbow. The defendant was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault by beating. He initially pleaded not guilty to both offences however changed his plea to guilty on the day of his trial. He was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 21 July 2023. He was sentenced to 16 months' imprisonment for assault occasioning actual bodily harm which was increased from 12 months' imprisonment due to the homophobic aggravation. He was also sentenced to 10 weeks' imprisonment to run concurrently for the offence of assault by beating which was increased from eight weeks due to the homophobic element.