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Jail for racist who stopped drivers during disorder to ask if they were ‘white’

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November 6, 2024
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Jake Wray, 23, admitted violent disorder after stopping cars, trying to set a hatchback alight and pushing flaming wheelie bins at police.

The behaviour of a racist yob who stopped drivers during the summer riots to check if they were “white” or “English” was “disgraceful”, a judge said.

Jake Wray, 23, of Seaton Street, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 38 months after admitting violent disorder in the town on August 4, including trying to set a car on fire, making racist chants and pushing a flaming wheelie bins into police lines.

He was serving a 24-week suspended sentence for spitting at a police officer and carrying a knife at the time.

Judge Richard Bennett, sentencing at Teesside Crown Court, told Wray: “(Your) behaviour was disgraceful and in no way reflects the values of the decent people of Middlesbrough.”

The judge said Wray’s offending was violent, “overtly racist” and included arson that day.

Wray, wearing a distinctive red top and an England flag around his shoulders, stopped cars at a junction in the town centre and was caught on mobile phone footage asking drivers about the colour of their skin.

On the clip which was played in court, while he stood blocking traffic, Wray could be heard asking: “Are you white, are you English?”

The judge said the incident was so shocking it was played on the national TV news.

Further clips showed him setting fire to a wheelie bin which was pushed towards police lines and helicopter video captured him interfering with a red hatchback which minutes later burst into flames.

Wray told police that he was merely stopping cars to warn drivers, but he no longer stood by that account.

Judge Bennett said: “You were clearly enjoying the attention and power of being masked during a frightening event for those drivers.”

A clip was played in court of Wray, with his England flag over his mouth as a mask, approaching a police video operator and shouting: “You can stick you chicken tikka up your arse. Tee-Tee-Teessiders.”

Harry Crowson, defending, said Wray initially denied the racial motive for stopping the cars “out of embarrassment and shame”.

Mr Crowson said the defendant had repeatedly watched the clips in court over several hearings, adding: “In the cold light of day, he doesn’t even believe the things that came out of his mouth that day.

“He is quite appalled by it.”

Wray’s partner and her mother have also been jailed for violent disorder.

The independent

Man who armed hotel rioters with missiles jailed

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November 6, 2024
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A man who drove a pick-up truck laden with debris to a hotel housing asylum seekers and allowed rioters to use its load as missiles has been jailed.

Jake Turton parked a red Ford Ranger near the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on 4 August, with panels of wood later hurled at police officers by others present.

Sheffield Crown Court heard the panels were also used as fuel for bin fires burning at the scene, with police and hotel workers “fearing for their lives” during the disorder.

Turton, 38, of Darfield, Barnsley, admitted violent disorder and was sentenced to two years and three months in prison.

Asylum seekers and hotel staff were trapped in the upper floors of the hotel as rioters smashed windows and set fire to bins that were used to block doors at the building, the sentencing heard.

More than 50 police officers were injured, the court heard, with police horses and dogs also suffering injuries.

Although Turton did not physically attack anyone himself, Judge Sarah Wright said a custodial sentence was inevitable due to the seriousness of the “terrifying incident”.

“You were part of a violent mob that descended, spreading hate, and you allowed people to arm themselves in major civil unrest which left police and the hotel workers fearing for their lives,” the judge told Turton.

The defendant claimed he had driven to the riot to “have a nosy”, the court heard, but text messages found on his phone discussed attending the scene and calling it “brill”.

In a statement read to court, a senior police officer called the disorder the “worst violence he had ever faced” because of the “extreme malice” shown.

Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said: “You openly allowed people to take panels of wood from your truck, so you acted in joint enterprise with hostility to those seeking asylum.”

Turton was cleared of a charge of taking a vehicle without consent.

Judge Wright told him: “This incident damaged the reputation of Rotherham and of South Yorkshire.

“It was a terrifying ordeal for the ordinary, decent citizens of the area, so your part in it has to be punished severely in order to protect the public.”

More than 60 men have been jailed so far for their parts in the disorder outside the hotel.

BBC News

Woman jailed for 27 months after taking 11-year-old to post-Southport riot

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November 6, 2024
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Aimie Hodgkinson-Hedgecox shouted racist abuse as police were attacked outside a Staffordshire hotel housing asylum seekers.

A 37-year-old woman who took a young boy to a post-Southport riot which saw an arson attack on a hotel has been jailed for more than two years.

Aimie Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, who has 14 previous convictions involving 30 offences, pleaded guilty to violent disorder after being recorded shouting “incendiary and racist” remarks at police protecting asylum seekers housed at Tamworth’s Holiday Inn Express.

She reacted angrily to being handed a 27-month sentence at Stafford Crown Court, looking towards friends and relatives in the public gallery and complaining: “It’s a joke, it’s a f***ing piss-take.”

Video footage played to the court on Wednesday showed Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, wearing shorts and Crocs-style footwear, swearing towards police lines and having to pull an 11-year-old boy out of the way as a firework was aimed at officers.

The court heard Hodgkinson-Hedgecox had intended to take the boy to a skate park when she saw the crowd outside the hotel on August 4 and decided to join the protest.

Defence lawyer Stephen Rudge urged the court to consider alternatives to custody, including unpaid community work, and said the defendant was “not somebody who holds overtly racist views or opinions”.

Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, whose last previous conviction was for battery in 2009, had left the area shortly after being recorded on three video clips, Mr Rudge said.

Prosecutor Fiona Cortese told the court that following her arrest, Hodgkinson-Hedgecox, of Edale, Stonydelph, Tamworth, admitted that she was shouting abuse about asylum seekers housed at the hotel.

During the disorder, Ms Cortese said, the hotel was damaged and petrol was poured inside and set alight.

Passing sentence, Judge Jonathan Gosling said: “I have watched the footage myself and you were recording the unfolding violence.

“You are clearly visible on the footage shouting incendiary and racist remarks.”

Hundreds of people were involved in a serious attack on the hotel, the judge said.

After ruling that Hodgkinson-Hedgecox’s offending was seriously aggravated by the fact she had taken an 11-year-old boy to the scene, the judge added: “I accept you didn’t have a weapon and you didn’t use any direct violence yourself.”

Judge Gosling said what Hodgkinson-Hedgecox had involved herself in “wasn’t politics” or a right to peaceful protest.

“Nobody is being punished for expressing their own views,” the judge continued. “This was anarchy. You were lending support to an extremely violent racist protest… where lives were endangered.”

In his submissions to the court, Mr Rudge stressed that Hodgkinson-Hedgecox had not contacted anyone else involved and that those participating in the violence were already present.

“She sees the crowd and gets involved,” the defence lawyer said. “It’s a decision she bitterly regrets.”

London Evening Standard

Hull rioter with an ‘appalling catalogue’ of other horrific offences is jailed

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November 5, 2024
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Sonny Brewitt threw a plank of wood at police during the Hull city centre disorder in August but also admitted a string of other crimes

A violent troublemaker who played an “active” role during “12 hours of racist hate-fuelled mob violence” in Hull city centre – and also had an “appalling catalogue” of other nasty offences – has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

Sonny Brewitt was at the front of the frightening disturbances, including the targeting of a garage where cowering children and others had to take refuge. In separate offences, he made his ex-girlfriend’s life a misery by repeatedly harassing her and he was also involved in a callous burglary, Hull Crown Court heard.

Brewitt, 22, of College Grove, off Preston Road, east Hull, admitted violent disorder, racially aggravated criminal damage and stealing a wallet on August 3.

He also admitted separate earlier offences of stalking his ex-girlfriend between July and December last year, breaching a restraining order and assaulting a nurse. He admitted a separate burglary offence on July 14.

Jennifer Gatland, prosecuting, said that bare-chested Brewitt was holding a plank of wood during the disturbances in Hull city centre and he threw it at a line of police officers in Ferensway, Hull. They were forming a protective guard outside the Royal Hotel, which was understood to be housing asylum seekers at the time.

Brewitt was one of the leaders in the confrontation and he was one of the first to get involved in trouble at a garage in Milky Way, off Spring Bank. Seven people, including children, had to pull down the shutters and lock themselves inside the garage. There were shouts by others of “Open the door. I’ll kill you.”

Vehicles were damaged outside while the group cowered inside the main garage. They feared for their safety. Brewitt went up to the shutters and started shaking them. He was part of a mob that surrounded a BMW car with three terrified Romanian occupants inside. He leaned in and stole a wallet.

The stalking offence happened when Brewitt breached a restraining order that had been imposed by Hull magistrates on January 5, 2022, banning him from contacting his ex-girlfriend.

On July 26 last year, he approached her and shouted aggressively at her before grabbing a pram. He followed her, became more aggressive and punched her in the face before pushing her off a fence.

He tried to take her mobile phone from her and pushed her into a bush. She shouted “Get off me”. A nurse saw what was happening and she said that she was going to call the police. Brewitt became aggressive towards her and assaulted her.

In November, Brewitt sent voicemails to his ex-girlfriend, including saying “I’m on my way” and, on another occasion, he went to her home. He also sent a text message to her, pretending to be “Paul from Clough Road custody” and giving a fake crime number.

During a telephone call to the phone number that sent the text, the woman realised that the voice was not the supposed police officer but Brewitt.

The burglary offence happened when Brewitt and an accomplice raided a house in Kilnsea Grove, near Preston Road, east Hull. A TV was stolen from the living room as well as a firestick and a sound bar.

Brewitt was identified from CCTV pictures. The occupier was devastated by what happened because she had known Brewitt for years.

Oliver Shipley, mitigating, said that Brewitt admitted playing an “active” role in the city centre disturbances and it was an escalation in his criminal behaviour from earlier offences.

“His life has clearly spiralled out of control,” said Mr Shipley. “There is no getting over that. This will be his first custodial sentence.”

Brewitt was immature, easily manipulated and prone to boredom and recklessness. He had struggled with the breakdown of his previous relationship with his girlfriend as they had a child together.

Judge John Thackray KC said that Brewitt committed an “appalling catalogue” of offences. He was part of “12 hours of racist hate-fuelled mob violence” in Hull city centre and “utterly deplorable” behaviour.

Brewitt was jailed for a total of five-and-a-half years. It included two years for the city centre violence offences, a consecutive 18 months for breaching the restraining order and a consecutive two years for burglary. He was given a five-year restraining order.

Hull Daily Mail

Rioter pushed burning bin towards police cordon after violence erupted at Middlesbrough protest

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November 5, 2024
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Paul Smith was jailed for 22 months following violent disorder in Middlesbrough

A rioter pushed a bin towards a police cordon after violence erupted at a far-right protest.

Paul Smith, 24, was locked up for 22 months at Teesside Crown Court on Monday, following riots in Middlesbrough on Sunday, August 4. The court heard Smith was seen on Ayresome Street among a group of males who were trying to set alight a Biffa bin.

The Middlesbrough defendant was seen with a lighter before pushing the bin into the police cordon. A second bin, a household wheelie bin, was also set alight and pushed into the police cordon.

The St Catherine’s Court defendant was jailed for 22 months for violent disorder. Teesside Live previously reported how protestors stormed Middlesbrough town centre in August after a week of violence across the country in protests organised by far-right and anti-immigration groups.

Cars were torched, windows were smashed and police were attacked in the shameful violence. In recent weeks, countless rioters have been jailed on Teesside with police still tracing suspects.

Following the troubles, Cleveland Police launched an investigation to identify individuals suspected of being involved. Codenamed Operation Acorn is led by detectives in the force’s homicide and major enquiry team.

Gazette Live

Rioter jailed for police office attack

By
November 5, 2024
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A rioter who attacked a police station with metal poles during disorder has been jailed for three years and four months.

Brian Gilby, 27, was part of a mob which targeted the police office on Waterloo Place, Sunderland, during widespread mayhem on 2 August, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Gilby, of Hendon Burn Avenue in Sunderland, also looted a vape shop, prosecutors said.

He admitted rioting with judge Tim Gittins saying he had brought “shame on the city”.

‘Abhorrent behaviour’

Hundreds of people were involved in disorder which broke out across the city after anti-immigration protests turned violent, prosecutor Michael Bunch said.

Police officers were repeatedly attacked with missiles, with four needing hospital treatment.

Businesses were also looted, vehicles damaged and windows smashed, during the unrest.

Gilby was seen on CCTV at the forefront of a group attacking a police office with metal poles and passing weapons to others to use, Mr Bunch said.

He also wielded a fire extinguisher at the building while a neighbouring citizens’ advice office burned after being set alight by rioters which was an “irony”, judge Gittins said.

Gilby then went to a looted vape shop and helped himself to as many products as his “tracksuit bottoms could hold”, the judge said, adding that there was “no legitimacy” for the “abhorrent behaviour”.

‘Encouraged others’

In mitigation, Nick Lane said Gilby had been celebrating a friend’s birthday and was “drawn” into the disorder after “stumbling” across it.

He said the father-of-three, who had missed important family milestones while on remand, was “deeply embarrassed and ashamed” by his actions.

Judge Gittins said he was part of an “orgy of mindless destruction” which “shocked, appalled” and caused fear to “right-thinking” people.

He said those present “inflamed” others to take part in the disorder.

The judge said he acknowledged jailing Gilby would have an affect on his family but told him: “You weren’t thinking of them when you took part in this disgraceful behaviour.”

BBC News

Brick-throwing rioter and disorder recorder jailed

By
November 4, 2024
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A rioter who threw bricks at police and a man who filmed disorder and tried to intervene in the arrest of a protestor have been jailed.

Liam Doeg and Ian Kirtley, both from Sunderland, were involved in multiple incidents after anti-immigration protests turned violent in the city on 2 August, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Doeg, 33, repeatedly attacked police and looted a vape shop. Kirtley, 36, was part of a group that tried to attack a mosque and encouraged people to attack officers as he filmed them on his phone.

Doeg, who admitted rioting and burglary, was jailed for three years and eight months and Kirtley, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder, for one year and nine months.

Violence erupted across Sunderland City Centre at about 16:00 BST after protestors gathered in the wake of the killing of three young girls in Southport, prosecutor Omar Ahmad said.

Four police officers required hospital treatment, shops were looted, windows were smashed, a Citizens Advice office was set on fire and a neighbouring police station was “ransacked”, the court heard

Doeg, of Poplar House in Sunderland, was “at the front” of a crowd throwing bricks at a line of police officers in Keel Square at about 19:30 BST and about an hour later was part of a group that sprayed police with a fire extinguisher and hurled multiple missiles, the court heard.

He also pushed a wheelie bin at police, threw a parasol and helped a group thrust a picnic bench at officers, Mr Ahmad said.

At about 21:30 BST he entered a vape shop which had already been looted and stole multiple products from a smashed cabinet, the court was told.

Kirtley, of Hylton Road in Sunderland, was draped in an England flag when he was part of a group that went to attack a mosque in St Mark’s Road but they were thwarted by a line of officers, Mr Ahmad said.

‘Ferocious attacks’

A short while later he intervened in the arrest of man on Hylton Road, pulling him free so he could escape from a horse-mounted police officer, the court heard.

Later Kirtley filmed people throwing stolen beer kegs at police and indicated a bin to protestors to be used as a weapon.

After being arrested, Kirtley claimed he had gone simply to “wave a flag” and was pointing to the bin to tell people not to use it.

In a statement read to the court, Northumbria Police Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine said the riot had been “appalling” with officers “ferociously” attacked.

She said the force had requested more than £1.5m from the Home Office to help pay for police operations in the aftermath.

‘Brought shame’

In mitigation for Doeg, the court heard he was drunk at the time and had a history of alcohol addiction.

The court was also told he was sorry for his actions.

Kirtley, meanwhile, was “vulnerable and easily influenced by others,” his barrister said.

Judge Tim Gittins said Doeg, Kirtley and others had brought shame on Sunderland, having gathered in large numbers for “no justifiable reason whatsoever”.

He said they carried out an “orgy of mindless destruction” including “serious acts of violence towards person and property”.

Judge Gittins said Kirtley had also brought “equal shame” to the England flag he carried through part of the disorder.

BBC News

Man jailed for violent disorder during riot

By
November 4, 2024
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Two men have been handed jail terms for violent disorder during this summer’s riots.

Unrest spread in Middlesbrough on 4 August, during a protest which started at the town’s cenotaph.

Akheel Khan, 24, of Wheatley Close in Middlesbrough, who pleaded guilty to violent disorder, appeared at Teesside Crown Court and was sentenced to 15 months.

Meanwhile, Ashley Ferguson, 34, of Somerset Street in Middlesbrough, who was charged with a number of offences including violent disorder, was also sentenced to 30 months in jail.

Ferguson was handed 30 months for violent disorder and 12 months, to be served concurrently, for burglary.

A charge of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place was left to remain on file.

BBC News

English neo-Nazi who stabbed asylum seeker was serial stalker

By
November 2, 2024
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Terrorist Callum Parslow was previously jailed for sending 10 women sexually explicit and misogynistic messages, and targeted a former GB News presenter

A neo-Nazi terrorist who was found guilty last month of the attempted murder of an asylum seeker is a prolific online stalker who had previously been jailed and referred to the Prevent counter-terrorism scheme, the Observer can reveal.

Callum Parslow was convicted on 25 October of attempted murder after stabbing an asylum seeker at a hotel in April. It can now be revealed he was jailed in 2018 for targeting 10 women and girls with messages describing sexually motivated murder, torture and rape, and then changed his name after his release.

Callum Blake-O’Brien, as he was formerly known, was referred to the Prevent anti-radicalisation programme in 2019 but no further action was taken. He was then arrested again last year for targeting another woman with sexual and racist messages.

Two of Parslow’s victims said they asked police whether he posed a physical threat, but were assured he was a “loner” and a “saddo” who was only a risk online. They feel their concerns were not taken seriously enough by police.

On 2 April, Parslow launched a stabbing attack on an asylum seeker at the Pear Tree Inn, near Worcester, and police found multiple weapons including knives and an axe at his home.

At the time, the 32-year-old was on bail and awaiting trial for his most recent offences against women, which followed a similar pattern to the abuse he was jailed for in 2018.

Parslow was targeting Mercy Muroki, a policy researcher and former GB News presenter, from multiple accounts under fake names on Facebook, Instagram and X.

Among the messages sent in July and August 2023 were videos of himself performing sexual acts and footage of a black woman being flogged.

“The message he sent was about him fantasising that this would ­happen to me,” said Muroki, who has chosen to waive her anonymity.

As well as reporting the direct messages from Parslow to police, she sent investigators screengrabs of his wider violent and white supremacist posts on social media.

Muroki, 29, said she raised concerns about whether Parslow could pose a physical threat to her, but was told that it was “unlikely”, partly because he lived in a different county and did not have a car.

Officers said that in interviews he had admitted his online activity reflected his true beliefs but said he had only messaged Muroki because “he found it difficult to speak to women he fancies”.

Speaking to the Observer, Muroki said: “I said to the police: ‘This is clearly a very deranged person who is fixated on the far-right stuff and on me – do I need to be worried that he might escalate it to something in person?’

“They were kind of like: ‘Oh no, don’t worry.’ They said he seems like a bit of a loner, a bit of a saddo. That’s how they characterised him – just a sad person on a computer – whereas actually I feel that the content he had posted demonstrated it was way past some keyboard warrior stuff.”

When police searched Parslow’s flat in Worcester on 13 December 2023, they found a stockpile of Nazi memorabilia, two copies of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and numerous other far-right books, and seized Parslow’s phone and laptop.

But he was only charged with offences related to his messages to Muroki, and evidence presented to Leicester crown court suggested he started preparations in earnest for a terror attack soon after being released on bail.

Muroki said the material at Parslow’s flat “demonstrated he was a far-right lunatic but, had he not then gone on to stab somebody, I don’t know the extent to which they would have taken any of that stuff seriously”.

She added: “I didn’t feel like the fact he was clearly a far-right risk was something they would have followed up on.”

Parslow was arrested shortly after fleeing the scene of the hotel stabbing on 2 April, having been found by police while trying to post a terrorist manifesto on X.

As well as focusing on his white supremacist beliefs and calls for further attacks, the document was peppered with misogynist references.

He called white women “alcoholic sluts” who “have as many abortions as possible” and claimed there was a conspiracy to “demonise masculinity”.

Research commissioned by counter-terrorism policing in 2021 showed a “striking prevalence” of domestic abuse in the lives of people referred to the Prevent programme.

Muroki said: “I felt like the police were a bit dismissive about my concerns that he might actually do something after I reported him.

“When I saw [news of the attack], I felt [like] my concerns were well founded – he was someone willing to do something like that. I think they should have taken the fact he was a risk a lot more seriously.”

Muroki said she was shocked that Parslow had been able to legally change his name after his release from prison in 2020.

As Blake-O’Brien, he had been given a 30-month prison sentence in February 2018 for stalking and harassing 10 women and girls online.

Parslow was initially released from jail in 2019 but was recalled for breaching his licence conditions and served his full term in custody, which meant he was freed without a period of probation supervision and the only restrictions remaining were restraining orders issued to protect his victims.

One of the women who brought the original case against Parslow, who was just 17 years old when his crimes against her began, said that her initial attempts to report him to police were rebuffed.

“They said he wasn’t a real threat,” she recalled. “I was turned down by the police multiple times before being taken seriously. He never stopped harassing women … this is just the proof of it now.”

The woman said that finding out that Parslow had been able to commit further offences against Muroki and then a terror attack made her feel as if “fighting for justice against him was a waste of my time”.

She added: “It took me a long time to trust people and heal from everything he said. I thought I would never have to hear his name again in my life, but hearing about him committing these types of crimes, and new violent crimes, makes me feel sick.”

Parslow, originally from Hereford, studied physics at Swansea University but dropped out without completing his degree.

At the time he committed the terror attack in April, he was living in Worcester and working as a computer programmer for a local manufacturer.

Parslow’s attempted murder trial was subject to reporting restrictions after he denied three offences against Muroki, because he was due to face a separate trial later this month and his defence team argued the jury would be prejudiced by media coverage.

But after being found guilty of attempted murder, he immediately pleaded guilty to two counts of malicious communications and one of online exposure. Parslow will be sentenced for both cases at Woolwich crown court in London in January.

A spokesperson for West Mercia police said that Parslow was identified for offences against Muroki after his social media accounts were linked to an IP address at his Worcester home.

“He was released on bail, with bail conditions appropriate to the nature of the offences,” a statement added. “The investigation progressed at pace and remained ongoing at the time he carried out the attack at the Pear Tree Inn.”

The Guardian

Pwllheli man jailed for racially abusing Kenyan woman in Caernarfon

By
November 2, 2024
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A Pwllheli man has been jailed after racially abusing a Kenyan woman in Caernarfon.

Michael Owen Williams, of Dolfor, Pwllheli, appeared at Mold Crown Court on Tuesday, 22 October, after admitting to racially aggravated harassment and breaching a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO).

On 9 August, a woman was at Caernarfon bus station with her children when 36-year-old Williams approached her and, unprovoked, began racially abusing her.

He shouted at her to “go back where you came from”, telling her “you don’t belong here”, leaving the woman and her children feeling very distressed and upset.

This behaviour put him in breach of a SOPO he received in 2008, which prohibited him from approaching and harassing or intimidating women.

He was jailed for two years and one month, and made the subject of a three year restraining order to protect the victim.

District Inspector Ian Roberts said: “This was disgusting behaviour that was targeted at a woman because of her race.

“This will not be tolerated in Gwynedd, and we will robustly deal with any incidents of hate crime.”

Anyone who experiences racial abuse should report it to police via our website, by calling 101, or alternatively via a support agency.

Cambrian News