CPS West Midlands: Successful Hate Crime Cases July 2022
In July 2022, CPS West Midlands Magistrates' and Crown Court units successfully prosecuted various hate crime cases. Below are just a handful of the cases we prosecuted.
On 19 March 2022, the defendant racially abused police officers who came to arrest him after he was caught on CCTV assaulting a fellow resident at a housing association. He was remanded in custody and on 13 April 2022, he pleaded guilty at his first hearing at Birmingham Crown Court to causing grievous bodily harm and racially aggravated harassment. On 11 July 2022, he was sentenced to four years and 9 months imprisonment at the same court after his sentence was uplifted to account for the hate crime.
On 6 November 2021, two members of the rail staff approached the defendant at Hamilton Square Station and asked him for his ticket. He was unable to provide one and was drunk and when he was escorted from the station, he struggled with the staff members, kicking, punching, biting and head butting them. The glasses of one of the staff member was damaged during the incident.
When the police arrived, the defendant kicked one police officer and directed homophobic abuse at him. He also kicked another officer and tried to bite a third officer. He was charged with assaulting the two rail employees, criminal damage to the glasses and assaulting three police officers. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on 5 July 2022 at Chester Magistrates' Court. He received a 12-month community order with 250 hours of unpaid work and was informed that the sentence had been increased to reflect the hate crime. He also had to pay £289 in compensation for the criminal damage, £100 compensation to victim M and £50 compensation to each officer.
On 27 December 2021, the youth victim was at a railway station when they were subjected to transphobic and homophobic abuse by the defendant, who they knew from school. The defendant then shoved them in the back, causing them to stumble into the road, forcing a car to make an emergency stop to avoid them. The defendant then confronted them again, their friends tried to stop him but were unable to, and the defendant pushed them to the floor and then kicked them in the back while they were on the floor. The defendant pleaded guilty at the first hearing and was sentenced on 13 July 2022 at Teeside Magistrates' Court. He received an eight-month referral order, which had been increased from six months to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay the victim £200 in compensation and a victim surcharge of £22.
On 1 August 2021, a member of the public approached police officers and alerted them to what appeared to be a domestic abuse incident. The defendant was arrested after making threats and expressing religious hatred toward one of the officers. He spat at another officer at the police station. He was charged with a religiously aggravated public order offence and with assaulting an emergency worker.
The defendant entered a guilty plea and was sentenced at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court to ten weeks in prison, suspended for two years. He was told that his sentence had been increased to reflect the fact that he had committed a hate crime. He was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work, 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days, and £100 in compensation for each officer.
On 9 April 2022, the defendant was found in a vehicle which appeared to have been involved in a crash. He appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs. He was found by an off-duty police officer who told him that he was under arrest for drink or drug driving. The defendant assaulted that officer and threatened him with a lighter. Other officers attended to assist and the defendant racially abused one of those officers. He was charged with assaulting an emergency worker, a racially aggravated public order offence, threatening with an offensive weapon and failing to provide a sample for analysis.
The defendant pleaded guilty on the day of trial and was sentenced on 8 July 2022. He received a 20-week sentence of imprisonment for the racially aggravated public order offence and was informed that this sentence had been increased by five weeks to reflect the hate crime. He received a further 20-week sentence for assaulting another officer and 26 weeks imprisonment for threatening with an offensive weapon. He also received a four-week sentence of imprisonment for each of the fraud offences. He was disqualified from driving for 24 months for failing to provide a sample of breath. The total sentence of imprisonment was 50 weeks, and he was also ordered to pay compensation to the officers.
The victim was working the night shift at a petrol station in Telford on 3 October 2021 when the defendant approached the night hatch and urinated on the floor before attempting to open the locked door. He then threatened and racially abused the victim and smashed the newspaper stand. When the police arrived, he was arrested and charged with a racially aggravated public order offence and criminal damage.
On 1 July 2022, the defendant pleaded guilty at Telford Magistrates' Court and received a 12-month community order. He was ordered to perform 120 hours of unpaid work, an increase from 80 hours to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay the victim £100 in compensation, a £95 victim surcharge, and £185 in costs.
On 3 October 2021, the defendant arrived at an address and demanded to be admitted. He made a threat to one of the people inside and then threatened another person inside the property and threw objects at another person. When the police arrived, he was racially abusive to them. The defendant was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence, two assaults, and another public order offence.
Following a trial at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court on 24 June 2022, the defendant was found guilty and he was sentenced on 30 June 2022 to a year of community service. He was ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work, which had been increased from 100 hours to reflect the hate crime. He was also required to complete 15 days of rehabilitation and ordered to pay £100 in compensation to the officer, £300 in costs, and the £95 victim surcharge. A restraining order for 12 months was imposed to protect the victims.
On 7 May 2022, the defendant went to the B&Q store in Wednesbury and became enraged when he was stopped by a security guard who noticed he had failed to pay. The defendant raised the stolen item as if to strike the security guard before racially abusing the security guard who later restrained him. The defendant also assaulted a police officer during his arrest.
On 26 July 2022, the defendant pleaded guilty to theft, assault, racially aggravated harassment, and assault on an emergency worker at Worcester Crown Court. He received a four-month sentence, which was increased due to the hate crime charge.