Essex man who left pig’s head outside school has appeal dismissed

The incident included sprawling graffiti on walls that read ‘no mosques’, and leaving pigs’ heads outside a school

A man jailed due to his connection with “Islamophobic hate crimes” in Rainham has had his appeal against his sentence dismissed.

A series of Islamophobic hate crimes, which included sprawling graffiti on walls that read “no mosques”, and leaving pigs’ heads outside a school in Rainham in July 2024.

Harvey Wells, Josh Campbell, and James Desbois were jailed for more than seven years in total, after they “deliberately and strategically” targeted buildings which included those used by children. Wells left the animal remains outside the Rainham Village Children’s Centre, the Royal Youth Community Centre and Harris Academy.

He also sprayed graffiti on the walls of the premises on July 25 2024, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told. The Rainham Village Children’s Centre had been running Islamic classes, while the Royal Youth Community and Harris Academy centre had been used for community prayers.

Supt Simon Hutchison confirmed at the time the incidents were being “treated as Islamophobic hate crimes”. Campbell, from Hutton, was convicted of three counts of religiously aggravated damage to property and sentenced to 32 months.

However, he has appealed to have this sentence reduced. The appellant has claimed that the judge incorrectly used the guideline for damage exceeding £5,000.

Because the higher-value guideline carries much harsher penalties, the appellant claimed the judge chose a starting sentence that was too high right from the beginning of the sentencing process. It was also argued that the judge factored the religious hostility into the sentence too early.

The appellant argued that instead of first deciding on an appropriate sentence for a standard criminal damage offence and then adding a specific uplift for the religious element, the judge jumped straight to a higher guideline because of the religious element.

However, the Court of Appeal dismissed these claims alongside the appeal. The dismissal reads: “Persuasively as they were argued, we are unable to accept Mr Price’s first submission that the wrong guideline was used or his second submission that there was an element of double counting.

“We would add that the sentence imposed could be justified even if the judge had been required to follow the lower value guideline. In that event, the sentence would have been primarily driven by the “uplift” at the stage when the impact of the religious or racial aggravation was assessed. If one imagines the basic offence as being, for example, spray painting the initials of a football club the sentence would certainly have been non-custodial, probably a fine. That notional outcome could not usefully influence the determination of the sentence for the offences which were actually committed.”

Essex Live