Tyneside thug attacked neighbours then racially abused policeman he wrongly thought wasn’t white

David Corkin, of Jarrow, assaulted two neighbours when light-hearted jibes turned nasty then spouted vile racist abuse at a police officer

A thug who attacked two neighbours racially abused a policeman who arrested him and chanted Tommy Robinson’s name at him – after wrongly concluding the officer wasn’t white.

David Corkin had been arrested after assaulting a man and a woman when he spouted his vile hatred because of the officer’s beard, dark hair and eyes.

He had attacked the neighbours while they were drinking on June 24 last year. Corkin ended up trading “light-hearted jibes” with a man he had previously been good friends with.

But as the afternoon went on, Newcastle Crown Court heard these became less friendly and more aggressive. Corkin said when the other man got up and moved towards him, he feared he was about to be attacked and so landed a “pre-emptive punch” and they ended up fighting on the ground.

In his basis of plea, he accepted the force he used was “disproportionate” to what the other man was doing. During the scuffle, he said he felt a sharp pain to his head and believed at the time a woman had hit him with a bottle, but now accepts he may have been wrong about that.

He grabbed the woman by the throat and pushed her to the ground. Corkin said he did not have hold of her neck for more than a few seconds.

The woman said she struggled to breathe during the attack and was immediately sick when he let go of her throat, which was very sore afterwards. Her tooth was also chipped. In a victim impact statement, she said the incident caused her to “feel fear she had never felt” and she was left scared in her own home.

She added that it led to her installing security cameras at her home, caused her to feel anxious when leaving her house and her chipped tooth affected her confidence and self-esteem.

The male victim suffered swelling and bruising to his face. He said he was left feeling unsafe and scared for his wellbeing

After he was arrested, and while he was being taken to the police station, Corkin went on to racially abuse a white police officer because his appearance caused him to wrongly believe he was not white. After using vile insults, he then began chanting Tommy Robinson’s name.

The officer said: “While I’m not Muslim or Pakistani, he made reference to my dark hair, beard and eyes and clearly believed me to be non white and decided to target me. There is no place for such hateful speech and I was alarmed at the vitriol.

“He laughed while making racially abusive comments and clearly found making the racist remarks amusing.”

Corkin, 54, of Naworth Terrace, Jarrow, who has 17 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to two counts of assault, strangulation and racially aggravated harassment. He was sentenced to 12 months suspended for 18 months with 150 hours unpaid work and must pay the male victim £500 compensation and the female £1,000.

Recorder Tom Moran told him: “You were arrested and when you were being detained you engaged in the most foul and disgusting racist abuse to an officer who you believed, wrongly, not to be a white British male, not that that makes any difference.”

Josh Hart, defending, said: “At the time, he was an alcoholic and drug addict and on the day he was in drink and on drugs. He accepts he was the antagonist in the story and wants to extend his sincere apologies to everyone involved. It seems his apologies are heartfelt.

“He has not been in any bother since. In that time he has lived in the same vicinity, his address backs onto the complainants in this case.

The Chronicle