CPS West Midlands: Successful Hate Crime Cases August 2022
In August 2022, CPS West Midlands Magistrates' and Crown Court units successfully prosecuted various hate crime cases.
On 30 April 2021, the defendant subjected the victim to homophobic abuse and threatened to assault him and his partner while the victim was speaking to the concierge in the flats where the victim lived. The defendant was charged with assault and initially failed to attend court. He was convicted after the trial on 15 August 2022 at Coventry Magistrates’ Court and received a 12-week community order which included an electronically monitored curfew for 12 weeks. His curfew was also increased by four weeks to reflect the hate crime and he was ordered to pay £100 compensation and £400 costs.
The defendant pleaded guilty to a public order offence after he hurled homophobic abuse at a police officer who was arresting him for domestic abuse matters. He tried to headbutt her and also lunged towards another officer. He was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 2 August 2022 to 10 weeks custodial sentence which was increased from a community order to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £200 compensation to the officer.
On 3 August 2022, the defendant was arrested in Coventry city centre as he was wanted on a recall to prison. He resisted, grabbed an officer’s radio, shoved him, tried to bite the officer and subjected him to homophobic abuse. He kicked another officer, and while on the way to the police station, he spat in the police vehicle. He was charged with assaulting two emergency workers and criminal damage which he admitted. He was sentenced at Coventry Magistrates’ Court on 12 August 2022 where he received a total sentence of 24 weeks imprisonment. The sentence for the assault on the officer was increased by six weeks to reflect the hate crime element. He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to each officer and £50 compensation to West Midlands Police.
On 13 March 2022, police were called to a Tamworth take-away after reports of the defendant causing a disturbance. The defendant had caused criminal damage and racially abused a worker thereafter he was stopped from entering their premises having caused damage to a nearby premise. The defendant pleaded guilty at the first hearing to racially aggravated assault and racially aggravated criminal damage as well as obstructing a police officer. He was sentenced at Cannock Magistrates’ Court on 12 August 2022. He received a community order of 18 months and was informed that the length of the order had been increased by six months to reflect the hate crime. He was ordered to perform 15 days rehabilitation activity requirement and 120 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £960 compensation for the damage and £150 for distress together with the victim surcharge of £95.
On 14 July 2021, during a road traffic incident in which both the defendant and victim got out of their cars, the defendant hit the victim twice with a chair and then punched him before racially abusing him. The defendant was convicted of a racially aggravated assault after a trial on 12 July 2022 and was sentenced on 29 of July 2022. He received a 12-month community order which included a tagged curfew. The length of the curfew was increased from two weeks to four weeks to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to participate in 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days, to pay £200 compensation to the victim and to pay costs of £200 and the victim surcharge of £95.
On 1 May 2022, the defendant was in hospital for a private matter when he became aggressive and racially abused the nurses. He also got a cup of his own urine and threw this over the hospital bay that he was in before pulling his trousers down and masturbating in A&E. The nurses asked a security guard to assist them as he was behaving aggressively. The defendant racially abused the security guard and spat biscuits and water at him. The defendant pleaded guilty on the trial date and was later sentenced at Worcester Magistrates’ Court on 16 August 2022. He received a 9-week custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months for the racially aggravated assault. He was told that he would have received a community order had it not been for the hate crime. He also received further 9-week concurrent sentences for the racially aggravated public order offence and the exposure and no separate penalty in relation to the criminal damage. He was ordered to pay £50 compensation to each victim and £128 compensation in relation to the damage.
On Friday 4 October 2019, the defendant in an unprovoked attack verbally and racially abused a member of public at the Esso Service Station in Lichfield. The defendant was in the company of an unknown male and both men cornered the victim in the shop and made him feel intimidated. The defendant also made threats to kill the victim during the altercation. The defendant pleaded guilty at halfway through the trial and was sentenced to four months' imprisonment suspended for 18 months with a requirement to complete 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay the complainant £1000 compensation.
The defendant hurled transphobic abuse and made threats towards the male victim who is transgender. He was charged with threats to kill and assault by beating for an incident that took place on 27 February 2022. The victim retracted citing the desire to deal with the incident outside of court. However, we proceeded with an evidence led prosecution (999 call and CCTV) and then accepted a plea to religiously aggravated harassment with fear of violence. The defendant was sentenced to 12 weeks’ imprisonment.