CPS Yorkshire and Humberside: Hate crime sentence uplift examples, cases finalised April 2023

Under the hate crime legislation, courts must treat offences more seriously where there is evidence that the offender demonstrated hostility on the basis of the victim’s actual or presumed race, religion, disability, transgender identity or sexual orientation, or the offence was motivated on the basis of hostility towards one of these characteristics.  Below are some examples of hate crime cases prosecuted by CPS Yorkshire and Humberside in April 2023 which resulted in a conviction and an uplifted sentence.

Racially aggravated cases:

1. The defendant was asked to leave a pub, he became increasingly agitated and racially abused a staff member. The next day he stole goods from a shop. The defendant pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to using racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence and theft from a shop. He was sentenced to 16 weeks’ imprisonment, uplifted from eight-weeks, and ordered to pay £100 compensation to the victim (Humberside Case).
2. The defendant walked into a park and approached the victim and his friends. He confronted the victim and racially abused him. Upon arrival of the police, he shouted racial abuse towards the officers. He was found guilty after trial at the magistrates’ court to three counts of using racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence. The defendant was sentenced to nine weeks imprisonment, uplifted from six weeks, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay £154 costs (West Yorkshire Case).
3. The defendant attempted to ride his bike inside a shop and security guards confronted him. They asked him to leave his bike outside the shop and he racially abused the security guard. The defendant appeared on warrant at the magistrates’ court and pleaded guilty to using racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence. He was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison for breaching his suspended sentence, uplifted from eight weeks (West Yorkshire Case).
4. The victim had spoken to the two defendants after they had been in a collision with the victim’s car. Later, they arrived at the victim’s property and began threatening him not to report the incident, this became more aggressive, and they racially abused the victim. Both pleaded guilty in the magistrates’ court to Affray. They were sentenced to 80 hours unpaid work, uplifted from 60 hours due to the racial element. Additionally, they were sentenced to a 12-month restraining order and ordered to pay £182 each costs (West Yorkshire Case).
5. A youth was in a bus station, and he tried to manually open automatic doors. Security guards became concerned that it could break them, so they asked him to stop. The youth racially abused the guards, and made threats to another person. He pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to two charges of using racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence and one charge of using threatening language. The defendant was sentenced to a 12-month referral order, uplifted from 8 months, and ordered to pay £150 compensation to the victims (West Yorkshire Case).
6. The victim installed CCTV on his property, which led to an argument between him and his neighbour. The argument became heated, and the defendant made racist remarks towards the victim. He was found guilty after trial at the magistrates’ court to using racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence and one charge of using threatening language. The defendant was sentenced to a 12-month community order, uplifted from six months. This included five rehabilitative requirement activity days (Humberside Case).
7. The defendant and her friends were asked to leave a fast-food restaurant by a security officer for vaping inside the premises. This caused her to be confrontational and she shouted racist abuse towards the victim and threw her bag it him. She pleaded guilty in the magistrates’ court to two charges of using racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence, one charge of using threatening language and one charge of assault. The defendant was sentenced to a 12-month community order, uplifted from a fine. The sentence also included 80 hours unpaid work and £100 compensation the victim (South Yorkshire Case).
8. The defendant was in an altercation with other men in a nightclub and security and staff members ejected the defendant from the premises. While he was escorted out he racially abused the staff members numerous times. The defendant pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to using racially aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence and one charge of using threatening language. He was sentenced to 120 alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement days, uplifted from 90 days. The sentence also included a 12-month community order, £300 fine and ordered to pay £199 in costs (South Yorkshire Case).

Religiously aggravated cases

1. The defendant made phone calls to the victim and used religiously abusive comments towards her on many occasions. He was found guilty after trial in the magistrates’ court to using religiously aggravated threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence and one charge of using threatening language. The defendant was sentenced a 12-week suspended sentence, uplifted from six weeks. The sentence also included a restraining order, and was ordered to pay £500 in compensation (Humberside Case).

Homophobic hate crime cases:

1. The defendant walked into a supermarket and become aggressive with staff, when asked to leave the defendant shouted homophobic abuse towards the security guard. He pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to two charges of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence and one charge of using threatening language. The defendant was sentenced to an 18-month community order, uplifted from 12 months. The sentence also included £200 compensation to the victims and an exclusion from the store for 18 months (North Yorkshire Case).
2. A youth threw an egg at the victim’s property. When the victim confronted the defendant, he shouted homophobic abuse towards her. He pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour in public with the intent to cause someone present to fear the use of immediate unlawful violence and one charge of using threatening language. The defendant was sentenced to a six-month youth referral order, uplifted from four months. Additionally, the sentence included a 12-month restraining order and an order to pay £100 compensation (South Yorkshire Case).
3. After a football match, the defendant was disgruntled with the result and posted homophobic comments on social media. He pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to sending by public communication network an offence message. The defendant was sentenced to 120 hours unpaid work, uplifted from one hundred hours. The sentence also included a 12-month community order and ten rehabilitative activity requirement days (South Yorkshire Case).