CPS West Midlands: Successful Hate Crime Cases June 2022
In June 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 11 December 2021, the defendant went to his ex-partner's house and threw stones at her house and car while racially abusing her new partner. He and two other men broke into the house and assaulted the new partner with punches and a truncheon. The defendant was charged with racially aggravated criminal damage, racially aggravated causing fear of violence, and aggravated burglary. After a trial, he was found guilty and sentenced to 11 years in prison on 21 June 2022 at Stafford Crown Court.
On 29 March 2018, the defendant entered Hotel Chocolat at Marylebone Station and took offence to something she thought two checkout assistants had said. She responded by threatening to take the victims' hijab off. After a trial at Inner London Crown Court, the defendant was found guilty on 25 March 2022 and sentenced on 1 June 2022. The judge increased the sentence from a conditional discharge to a 24-month community order.
The defendant attended a football match between Coventry City and Luton Town on 8 March 2022. He shouted racist slurs at a Luton Town player. A week later, he was identified, arrested and charged with a racially aggravated s5 public order offence. On 22 June, the defendant appeared at Coventry Magistrates' Court, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced. He was fined £80, which had been doubled to reflect the fact that he had committed a hate crime. He was also fined £135 in costs and a £34 victim surcharge.
The defendant attended a football match between Birmingham City and Queens Park Rangers on 2 January 2022. He yelled racist slurs at a Queens Park Rangers player and was charged with a section 5 public order offence that was racially aggravated. On June 16, the defendant appeared at Birmingham Magistrates' Court where he entered a guilty plea and was fined £180. The fine was raised from £120 to reflect the fact that this was a hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £135 in costs and a £34 victim surcharge, and a football banning order was issued, prohibiting him from attending any football matches in the UK for 12 months.
The defendant attended a football match between Stoke City and Bournemouth on 19 October 2021. While vaping, he attracted the attention of a steward, who asked him to sit down and stop smoking but he racially abused the steward. He was charged with a section 4A public order offence that was racially aggravated. On 8 June 2022, the defendant pleaded guilty and was fined in Newcastle Magistrates' Court. The fine was increased to reflect the hate crime element. He was also ordered to pay £135 in costs and a £34 victim surcharge.
On 25 April 2022, the defendant was on top of a car, yelling and screaming at employees in a supermarket parking lot in Hanley as the victim passed by. The defendant then began racially abusing the victim. When the police arrived, she spat at the victim, striking his jacket and was charged with a racially motivated section 39 assault. The defendant pleaded guilty and was sentenced on 15 June 2022 at Newcastle Under Lyme Magistrates' Court. She was sentenced to four weeks in prison, with the sentence being increased by one week to reflect the fact that the assault was a hate crime. She was also ordered to pay a £128 victim surcharge.
On 22 July 2021, the defendant was abusive to staff at Clacton railway station. He racially abused one member of staff and homophobically abused another. He was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence and a public order offence for his conduct towards the two victims. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on 22 June 2022 at Colchester Magistrates’ Court where he received a fine of £360 which had been increased from £220 to reflect the hate crime. He was ordered to pay £50 compensation to each of the victims, £150 costs and the £36 victim surcharge.
On 16 August 2021 the victim worked in a shop in Tamworth and had previously been subjected to homophobic abuse from the defendant. The victim was on a work break, when the defendant yelled homophobic abuse at him. When he became aggressive, the victim began to record him. The defendant attempted to take his tablet, yelled at him, punched him in the shoulder, kicked him, and kneed him in the thigh. The defendant was charged with section 39 assault. The defendant pleaded not guilty but then changed his plea to guilty on the day of the trial. He refused to accept the homophobic language, and the court then heard testimony from witnesses and found that the defendant had used homophobic language.
On 15 June 2022, he was sentenced at Cannock Magistrates' Court and was sentenced to a 12-month community order, which included a six-month alcohol treatment order and 15 days of rehabilitation activity requirement days. He was also ordered to pay the victim £100 in compensation and £200 in costs. He was informed that the sentence, which had previously been a fine, had been increased to reflect the hate crime.
On 29 April 2022, the defendant was arrested for an unrelated matter. On the way to the police station, he repeatedly made racist comments to the police officers and also made a homophobic comment. He smeared faeces on his cell at the police station. He was charged with two racially aggravated section 4 public order offences and criminal damage. At the first hearing, the defendant pleaded not guilty to all offences and the case was adjourned for trial. He was convicted after trial on 16 June 2022. He received a fine of £200 for each of the two racially aggravated offences and the sentence was increased by £20 in each case to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to the police for the criminal damage.