CPS West Midlands: Successful Hate Crime Cases October 2022
In October 2022, CPS West Midlands Magistrates' unit successfully prosecuted various hate crime cases.
On 26 November 2021, the defendant made antisemitic remarks and gestures in front of commuters and railway staff at Chester railway station. He was arrested and charged with a racially aggravated public order offence, which he denied. During the trial, our prosecutor outlined the facts to the court and requested an uplift in sentence for the hate crime. He was convicted at the trial at Chester Magistrates’ Court on 30 September 2022 and he received a £300 fine which had been increased to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay the victim surcharge of £34.
On 27 April 2022, the defendant physically assaulted and racially abused the victim during an altercation in front of witnesses. Following his arrest, he appeared at Coventry Magistrates’ Court on 29 April 2022 and pleaded not guilty. However, he failed to attend his trial on 13 September 2022 and he was convicted in his absence at the same court and a warrant for his arrest was issued. He appeared before the court on 4 October 2022, and was sentenced to a 12-month community order which included 80 hours of unpaid work which been increased by 20 hours to reflect the hate crime. He was also ordered to pay £100 compensation to the victim, the victim surcharge of £95 and prosecution costs.
On 11 February 2022, the defendant racially abused one of the police officers who had attended an address to arrest him for an unrelated matter. When he failed to attend his first hearing, he was arrested and appeared before the court on 29 July 2022 where he pleaded guilty to the racially aggravated public order offence. The case was adjourned for sentencing, however, he failed to attend court again and was arrested again. He was sentenced to 21 weeks' custody on 12 October 2022 at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court and he was told that the sentence was increased from 16 weeks due to the hate crime. He received a further sentence for a different matter leading to a total sentence of 26 weeks in custody which was suspended for 30 months. He was ordered to pay £100 compensation to the officer.
On 22 March 2022, the defendant directed homophobic slurs towards the victim and his partner as they travelled on the Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield train and when the victim challenged the defendant, he subjected the victim to verbal and further homophobic abuse. He also repeated the homophobic abuse when he was arrested by police officers. He was charged with two public order offences, one in relation to his behaviour on the train and the other in relation to his behaviour in front of the police officers. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on 28 October 2022 at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court. He received a 12-month community order which included a 25-day rehabilitation activity requirement and a curfew from 9pm to 7am for 42 days. He was informed that the curfew had been increased from 28 days to reflect the hate crime.
On 27 August 2021, the defendant approached the ticket barriers and waved an invalid ticket at the inspectors. He became angry when he was told he couldn’t travel with the ticket and he used a disability slur towards one of the staff members. He was charged with a public order offence which he denied but he later changed his plea on the trial date. He was ordered to pay £200 compensation to the victim which had been doubled to reflect the disability hate crime.