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Borders community council chairman hit with £500 court bill for breaching race hate laws

By
July 16, 2019
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Gregory Lauder-Frost.

A Borders community council chairman and political activist has fallen foul of race hate laws after a social media row with a 21-year-old student.

Gregory Lauder-Frost, 67, sent Isadora Sinha messages telling her to “go home” and saying she had “no right to be in our country or arguing with a superior race”.

As their online argument continued, he posted threats saying: “As the KGB say, you are on the list. Don’t get too comfortable.”

Lauder-Frost, founder and vice-president of the Traditional Britain Group, an organisation calling for members of ethnic minorities to be returned to what it describes as their natural homelands, tried to dismiss those remarks as “throwaway” comments as part of a Facebook debate.

He also claimed that he had been provoked.

However, following a trial at Jedburgh Sheriff Court last week, he was convicted of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner by posting offensive and racist comments likely to cause a reasonable person fear and alarm from his home in Mordington in Berwickshire last year.

A former leading light in the Monday Club, a right-wing Conservative Party pressure group, Lauder-Frost has courted controversy in the past with his extreme views.

He caused an outcry with his comments about Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, mother of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence and a campaigner against racism, referring to her as “anti-English” and not suitable for the House of Lords.

In 2013, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg issued a public apology after attending a dinner hosted by the Traditional Britain Group, admitting it was “unquestionably a mistake” and describing the views of Lauder-Frost as “disgusting”.

This is the first time that the married father of two has been convicted of a criminal offence over his extreme political views, though, and his conviction at Jedburgh Sheriff Court is being seen as a message sent out by the Scottish legal authorities that racist and threatening remarks will not be tolerated on social media despite being notoriously difficult to prove.

He was fined £300 and ordered to pay £200 compensation to Ms Sinha after being found guilty of the racially-aggravated offence.

The trial heard evidence by video-link from Ms Sinha, a postgraduate genetics student at Cardiff University who describes herself as British-Indian despite being born in Hong Kong.

She explained how a video popped up up on her Facebook page from an Arthur Hargrave on British ethnicity which she commented on as she objected to the views being expressed.

A message then came up on April 25 last year sent from Lauder-Frost’s profile saying: “You are not British. You are someone of foreign ethnicity.”

Further such messages followed during the exchanges, with one saying: “It is not skin colour that matters, it is race. Your natural home lies out of the UK.”

“Please go back to your natural homeland instead of insulting us.”

Lauder-Frost later sent a picture of two light-skinned women saying: “Here are Caucasians,” adding afterwards: “I am not a white nationalist. I want to keep Britain British. If you are not ethnically British, you are not British.”

Other messages from his profile stated “you have no right to be in our country or arguing with a superior race” and “what do you think you are doing in my country?”

Lauder-Frost then sent more messages referring to “aliens” and “British haters” and urging her to “go home”.

He also said that non-Europeans should be returned to their natural homelands.

Ms Sinha responds to messages from both Lauder-Frost and Hargrave saying: “Both of you do not get the point. Try and research a bit more.”

She added another comment explaining why she feels she felt qualified to offer opinions, saying “considering I am a geneticist and have got an education in this. You two are just plain racist”.

Asked for her reaction to the views she was responding to, Ms Sinha replied: “Sadness, I suppose. I was taken a bit aback. I was not expecting it.”

However, she implied matters turned even more sinister when she received messages saying: “As the KGB say, you are on the list. Don’t get too comfortable.”

Asked for her interpretation of those comments, Ms Sinha said she took them as a threat, explaining: “No one has the right to make those kind of comments. The KGB killed people on their list. They tortured them and airbrushed them out of photos.

“Not only did he want me out of the country, he wanted me airbrushed from this country.

“I took the ‘don’t get too comfortable’ comment as a threat as well. The comments caused me to worry.”

Ms Sinha, who insisted she was proud to be British, rejected the suggestion that was a general view, saying that she was named in the comment and believed she was being targeted.

Under cross-examination from procurator fiscal Graham Fraser, Lauder-Frost gave his version of events about the Facebook exchange with the student 46 years his junior.

Asked if he had made the comment “please go home”, he replied: “Probably out of frustration.”

He continued: “She kept going on and on, and she was only halfway through a downmarket university course on genetics.

“I was insulted as she was lecturing us when she was making these comments.”

Asked to clarify what he meant about Cardiff’s being a downmarket university, Australian-born Lauder-Frost, holder of an Oxford University degree in modern history and a doctorate, said: “Some are better than others on a sliding scale, I am afraid.”

The pensioner pointed out he did not know who Ms Sinha was and had only found out about her when she responded to the Facebook thread and then checked her profile.

He added: “These debates are going on all the time on Facebook, and I don’t believe anyone takes them particularly seriously.

“Obviously, I have learned a lesson by being here today.

“Through this whole thread, I felt Miss Sinha was being very very provocative.”

When quizzed about his comment about her having no right to be in this country or argue with a superior race, he stated: “I felt she was arguing with the British and the Caucasians.

“She was an alien in this country, my country, and putting forth insulting arguments. She was postulating.”

Asked to explain his question “what are you doing in my country?” and his comment “go back to your natural home and stop insulting us”, he replied: “I was getting a bit tired. You get these throwaway comments on Facebook.

“It’s just amazing that this has ever reached court.

“It is a snowflake reaction. These are throwaway comments. I never meant for this girl to be abused or to be in fear. I don’t even know where she lives or anything about her.

“It is a debate or an argument. We are going down a dark path trying to regulate speech.

“I don’t see why you are singling me out.”

Mr Fraser, summing up for the prosecution, said: “The accused fully accepts he made the observations and he behaved in a way he knew would offend her.”

He highlighted the distress and upset caused by the messages adding: “He was responsible for that.”

Defence lawyer Robert More contended that his client had sent his messages in the context of being provoked but had stopped when asked to by Ms Sinha’s mother.

He said: “This was an intelligent young woman who was keen to get involved in a political debate but then, having been offended, decided to report the matter to the police.

“She did not stay out of the debate but continued.

“It does not prove there has been a contravention of section 38 of the act.”

Finding him guilty following a four-hour trial, sheriff Peter Paterson told Lauder-Frost he had crossed the line by making threatening comments which would have caused a reasonable person fear or alarm.

Regarding the racial element of the charge, he said: “The comments are racist. They clearly are.”

Sheriff Paterson gave Lauder-Frost three months to pay the fine and compensation in full.

Lauder-Frost, chairman of Foulden, Mordington and Lamberton Community Council, declined to comment on leaving court, though he has ince informed us that he intends to lodge an appeal.

Southern Reporter

Tommy Robinson given nine-month jail sentence for contempt of court

By
July 11, 2019
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Far-right activist will serve 10 weeks after being found guilty of breaching reporting ban

Tommy Robinson pictured outside the Old Bailey, where his supporters later clashed with police. Photograph: Luke Dray/Getty Images

Tommy Robinson has been given a nine-month prison sentence – of which he will serve about 10 weeks – after he was found guilty of contempt of court at an earlier hearing.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, broadcast reports that encouraged “vigilante action” and “unlawful physical” aggression against defendants in a sexual exploitation trial, according to the judges who found him guilty last week.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Dame Victoria Sharp said of Robinson: “He has lied about a number of matters and sought to portray himself as the victim of unfairness and oppression.

“This does not increase his sentence, but it does mean that there can be no reduction for an admission of guilt.”

Robinson, 36, from Luton in Bedfordshire, had denied breaching a reporting ban by livestreaming footage of defendants arriving at court. He insisted he had only referred to information already in the public domain.

After deduction for time served, the sentence will amount to 19 weeks, of which he will serve half before being released.

The former leader of the far-right English Defence League flashed a V for victory sign to the public gallery upon hearing the sentence, and later winked as he slung a bag over his shoulder and was led away by prison officers.

He arrived outside the Old Bailey dressed in blue jeans and a black T-shirt bearing the words “convicted of journalism”, but was wearing a plain black one inside, where his barrister apologised for the defendant’s late arrival. Sharp, the lead judge, said: “Well, it’s not a very good start, is it?”

Police officers put on riot helmets and drew batons as bottles and cans were thrown when a crowd of Robinson supporters outside the court erupted with anger after the news from inside filtered through.

At least three people were arrested, City of London police said. The crowd later made its way to the Carriage Gates of the Houses of Parliament, blocking roads as they went.

Blocking the roads outside parliament they waved signs bearing slogans including “Tommy Robinson: political prisoner”, chanted support for the far-right activist and other slogans in favour of Brexit, as well as calling MPs “traitors”.

There were some briefly chaotic scenes as some protesters shouted abuse at police, and then crowded and jostled officers when one person was detained. Some protesters yelled “Paedophile protesters!” at police.

Several members of the crowd were holding cans of beer or cider, and one was overheard making racist comments.

The crowd, diminishing in numbers, moved around Parliament Square for a period before heading in the direction of Victoria.

Passing sentence at the Old Bailey alongside Mr Justice Warby, Sharp told Robinson they were in no doubt the custody threshold had been passed and the judges had taken account of information including the impact of prison on his health and family.

Aidan Eardley, the barrister for the attorney general, who had made the application for Robinson to be jailed, began earlier by outlining the sentencing options, adding that complicating factors included time already served, which amounted to 68 days in custody.

Robinson had been sentenced to 10 months when he was first jailed for the video he livestreamed from outside Leeds crown court, but appeal judges then ordered the case be reheard in full.

His barrister, Richard Furlong, said there had been no further incidences of contempt and asked the court to consider any actual harm caused by his client’s actions.

“Notwithstanding the seriousness of what has been found to be proven against him, in terms of actual harm to the trial of the criminal defendants in Leeds, there is no suggestion that the criminal defendants in Leeds did not have a fair trial, notwithstanding his conduct outside the court,” Furlong said.

Addressing his client’s state of mind, Furlong said there were a number of relevant categories, and “recklessness” was not as serious as others from the point of view of sentencing.

After sentencing, Furlong raised the possibility of an appeal against the court’s decision on contempt and was told he had 28 days to apply.

Speaking afterwards, the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, said: “Today’s sentencing of Yaxley-Lennon serves to illustrate how seriously the courts will take matters of contempt.”

Nick Lowles, the chief executive of the campaign group Hope Not Hate, said: “Stephen Lennon put at risk the trial of men accused of horrendous crimes with his livestreaming antics. He doesn’t care about the victims of grooming, he only cares about himself. He now faces yet another stint behind bars.”

Earlier this week, Robinson made an emotional appeal to the US president, Donald Trump, to grant him asylum, claiming he faced being killed in prison.

On Thursday, he was supported in court by the far-right commentator Katie Hopkins. Others in court included Ezra Levant, the founder of the Rebel Media, a Canadian far-right website.

Gerard Batten, the former Ukip leader who had taken on Robinson as an adviser before the party was wiped out in the European parliament elections in May, addressed the crowd outside from a stage.

Robinson meanwhile issued an appeal using the Telegram messaging app for supporters to protest outside prison on Saturday.

A full decision of the high court, released on Tuesday, explained the reasons for ruling against him. Sharp, the president of the Queen’s bench division, and Warby produced a three-page judgment setting out their findings last week.

“We are entirely satisfied that [Robinson] had actual knowledge that there was an order in force restricting reporting of the trial,” the judges concluded. “He said as much, repeatedly, on the video itself.”

Robinson was found to have committed contempt by breaching a reporting restriction, risked impeding the course of justice and interfered with the administration of justice by “aggressively and openly filming” the arrival of defendants at court.

Commenting on the impact of Robinson’s actions, the judges said: “The dangers of using the unmoderated platforms of social media, with the unparalleled speed and reach of such communications, are obvious.”

The Guardian

Mum stripped, doused in vodka and punched by EDL thug after she said no to marriage

By
July 10, 2019
Uncategorized

Gemma Hudson, 29, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had to be put into a coma because her injuries were so severe

Gemma was brutally beaten for saying no to a marriage proposal

When mum-of-five Gemma Hudson turned down her boyfriend’s marriage proposal she could not have imagined the horror that was the come.

The 29-year-old was stripped naked, doused in vodka and punched so hard she crashed through a patio window during her terrifying four hour ordeal.

Gemma, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was so brutally attacked by EDL thug Bernard Holmes she was vomiting blood as she begged him to stop.

Holmes choked, headbutted, ripped out chunks of Gemma’s hair, threw her to the floor, kicked her, banged her head against a wall and radiator and bit her on the face and mouth.

What makes the brutal assualt even more chilling is just moments earlier, he had been pleading with her to marry him.

Holmes subjected Gemma to a horrific four hour ordeal (Image: Focus Features)

Gemma finally escaped the terrible attack when she grabbed a back door key and fled wearing just a hooded sweatshirt.

She said: “One minute he was asking me to marry him, the next he was punching me over and over again.

“I really thought I was going to die. He was like a mad man.”

Gemma’s injuries were so bad she had to be put into an induced coma for three days with a bleed on the brain.

She also had soft tissue damage to the jaw, which meant she was forced to eat a liquid diet and had bruises all over her face and body, as well as bite marks.

And while her panic-stricken mother, Lesley, sat at her hospital bedside, Holmes, who was jailed for 18 months in 2012 for leading a violent English Defence League protest in Blackburn, was texting her telling her to ‘stop milking it’.

Holmes, who led other EDL protests outside a KFC dressed as a chicken in 2010, went on the run for 10 days after beating up Gemma, the mother of his seven-month old son, Harley-Ryan.

Gemma, who works as a kitchen assistant at a care home during the week and a licensed door supervisor at weekends, said: “He asked to meet up with me, so I went to his house to talk to him.

“Everything was fine at first. He said he wanted to get back with me and be a proper family.

“He’d asked me to marry him several times before but this time he got down on one knee and asked me again.

“Things had not been right between me and Bernard, and we had been off and on for several months.

“He had never been violent before, but I told him that it could never work between us.

“He seemed to take it in, but then he took my phone and started scrolling through the messages.

“He found an invitation to a hen night and hit the roof. He texted all my friends to tell them I wasn’t going.

“The next minute he was raining punches on me to the point I was sick all over his living room floor.

“I looked up and saw him taking photos of me being sick and shared them on WhatsApp. He was laughing like a madman.

“He would ask me questions while strangling me. He would count down ‘five, four, three, two, one’ then he would either punch me, headbutt me or bite the side of me face and then floor me.

“He would then pick me back up by my hair or my throat.

“He punched me so hard, I fell through the patio door. I could feel the cold air on my face and I tried to scream for help and he put his hand over my mouth and dragged me back in.

“I was thrown on settee by my hair and punched in the face. I asked to wash my mouth out. I could feel myself choking on my own blood.

“I spotted the back-door key on the kitchen work top. I put the tap on to pretend I was washing my mouth out and managed to grab the key and get out of the door.

“All I had on was one of his hoodies. I had nothing on my feet.

“I ran to the next street to get help. He was seen on CCTV chasing me round the street and round a car.

“I was screaming at the top of my voice. I thought I was going to die.

“A man came out and helped me, followed by another. Then I remember blue flashing lights.

“Bernard ran off and was on the run from the police for 10 days.”

Gemma, who met Holmes while stewarding at Accrington Stanley two years ago, said she was aware of his past when she met him but not the full extent of it.

She said she wished she had looked into Clare’s Law, the domestic violence disclosure scheme, when she met him and encouraged other women to do so.

During their relationship, Gemma said binge-drinking Holmes would regularly accuse her of cheating on him and verbally abuse her.

She added: “I no longer feel safe going out. I’m practically a prisoner in my own home. I feel trapped. I’m terrified of something happening to me and my kids.

“He ripped clumps of my hair out and left me with bald patches. I feel so self-conscious and paranoid.

“I do regret meeting him. I should have listened to others who said he was violent.

” I had no idea what he was really like and I had no idea about the far-right marches and all the violence.

“I was disgusted when I found out. The only good thing that has come out of this is my son.”

Holmes, who was jailed for 28 months in 2010 for leaving victim Sean Baxendale with catastrophic injuries in a two-punch attack outside Bar Ibiza in Blackburn, pleaded guilty to ABH and harassment.

He was jailed for three years at Preston Crown Court and Recorder Murray also imposed a restraining order banning Holmes from contacting Ms Hudson for life.

Det Con David Richardson said: “This was a nasty and sustained attack and Holmes deliberately caused more harm than was necessary, leading to significant injuries.

“The police will continue to deal robustly with perpetrators of domestic violence and put them before the courts.”

Daily Mirror

Blackburn far-right thug subjected girlfriend to brutal four-hour attack

By
July 9, 2019
Uncategorized

A BRAVE mother-of-five has spoken of her terror at having to run away from her abusive and controlling partner in nothing but a hoodie after a brutal and prolonged attack.

Gemma Hudson, 29, told how she was vomiting blood as her ex-boyfriend, convicted right-wing thug Bernard Holmes, landed punch after punch in his Blackburn home on the same day he asked her to marry him.

She said he also choked her, headbutted her, ripped out chunks of her hair, threw her to the floor, kicked her, banged her head against a wall and a radiator, and bit her on the face and mouth in the four-hour attack on April 14.

Ms Hudson was put into an induced coma for three days with a bleed on the brain. She also had soft tissue damage to the jaw, which meant she was forced to endure a liquid diet and had bruises all over her face and body, as well as bite marks.

While Ms Hudson was in hospital Holmes, who was jailed for 18 months in 2012 for leading a violent English Defence League flashmob protest in Blackburn, was texting her telling her to ‘stop milking it’.

Holmes, who led EDL protests outside Blackburn’s Haslingden Road KFC dressed as a chicken in 2010, fled after beating up Ms Hudson – the mother of one of his two children – in Pilmuir Road but gave himself in after 10 days.

Reliving the terrifying attack Ms Hudson, who works as a kitchen assistant at a care home during the week and a licensed door supervisor at weekends, said: “I went to his house at about 3pm. For an hour it was fine. From about 4pm to 8pm it was constant beating.

“I had asked to got to my friend’s hen party on the Thursday. It was for the older friends and relatives and those with children who couldn’t go to the one abroad. It was a surprise thing so, because I had to keep it to myself, I had only told him a few days earlier. He was scrolling through my phone and had text my best friend and told her I wasn’t going without my knowledge.

“The next minute he was raining punches on me to the point I was sick all over his living room floor. He took pictures of me being sick and shared them on Whatsapp.

“He would ask me questions while strangling me. He would count down ‘five, four, three, two, one’ then he would either punch me, headbutt me or bite the side of me face and then floor me. He would then pick me back up by my hair or my throat.

“After a while I asked to wash my mouth out. I could feel myself choking on my own blood. I put the tap on to pretend I was washing my mouth out and managed to run out the door. All I had on was one of his hoodies. I had nothing on my feet.

“I legged it to the next street to get help. He was seen on CCTV chasing me round the street and round a car. When everyone came out because they could hear me screaming he ran off and was on the run from the police for 10 days.”

Ms Hudson, who met Holmes while stewarding at Accrington Stanley two years ago, said she was aware of his past when she met him but not the full extent of it.

She said she wished she had looked into Clare’s Law, the domestic violence disclosure scheme, when she met him and encouraged other women to do the same.

During their relationship which she described as being “on and off like a light”, Ms Hudson said Holmes assaulted her on more than one occasion – although she never reported that to the police – would regularly accuse her of cheating on him, throw her belongings out of the car, kick her out of the car and make her walk home and verbally abuse her.

Ms Hudson, of Oswaldtwistle, said she has now lost confidence and fears reprisals. She said she has been unable to go out because she has been left with bald patches where Holmes had ripped her hair out and has been left with jaw pain.

She added: “I do regret meeting him. I should have listened to everybody else who said he was a girl beater and violent. The only good thing that has come out of this is my son,”

Holmes, who was jailed for 28 months in 2010 for leaving victim Sean Baxendale with catastrophic injuries in a two-punch attack outside Bar Ibiza in Blackburn, pleaded guilty to ABH and harassment.

He was jailed for three years at Preston Crown Court and Recorder Murray also imposed a retraining order banning Holmes from contacting Ms Hudson for life.

Det Con David Richardson said: “This was a nasty and sustained attack and Holmes deliberately caused more harm than was necessary, leading to significant injuries. The police will continue to deal robustly with perpetrators of domestic violence and put them before the courts”

For help and advice on domestic abuse visit http://www.lancashire.police.uk/help-advice/personal-safety/domestic-abuse

Lancashire Telegraph

Terrorist folk singer who set fire to synagogue locked up in hospital indefinitely

By
July 6, 2019
Uncategorized

A far-right extremist who was engulfed in a ball of flames when he set fire to an historic synagogue on a day commemorating the Holocaust has been locked up in hospital indefinitely.

Hospital X-Ray technician and self-styled folk singer Tristan Morgan, 52, was spotted walking away carrying a petrol can and laughing as smoke spewed from the 18th Century synagogue in Exeter on July 21 last year.

Afterwards, CCTV was recovered showing Morgan being burned as he set light to the synagogue through a smashed window.

The defendant, from Exeter in Devon, admitted arson with intent to endanger life, encouraging terrorism by publishing a song entitled “White Man” to live-streaming website Soundcloud, and having a copy of the White Resistance Manual.

The court heard he was psychotic at the time of the arson attack but had no previous history of violence.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC handed Morgan a hospital order without limit of time, saying most people would feel “anger and revulsion” for what he did.

Tristan Morgan, 52, was engulfed in a ball of flames when he set fire to an historic synagogue. Credit: PA/Devon and Cornwall Police

Outlining the facts, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said Morgan has “deep-rooted anti-Semitic belief, embodied in a desire to do harm to the Jewish community and an obsession with abhorrent anti-Semitic material”.

Morgan made songs “exhorting others to violence” against the Jewish community and had an array of material which “revelled in the degenerate views of Nazi Germany and white supremacists”, Mr Richardson said.

On the evening of Saturday July 21 last year, he tried to burn down the synagogue “with no thought for any lives he might put at risk”, he said.

Mr Richardson told how Zoe Baker and her partner Samual O’Brien were walking through Exeter City Centre when they heard a “loud bang” and saw an “orange glow and smoke” coming from the grade two listed building.

Concerned that someone might be hurt, they stopped and Ms Baker saw the defendant walking from away carrying a green petrol can.

Mr Richardson said: “He appeared to be laughing, while trying to flatten his hair which she described as looking like it had been ‘whooshed up’.

Morgan appeared “cocky” as he drove off in a Mercedes Vito van, according to the eyewitness account.

Mr O’Brien and an employee of a nearby Mecca bingo tackled the blaze with fire extinguishers before the fire brigade arrived.

Firefighters found a “severe” fire in a room containing a gas boiler, which could have exploded.

Morgan’s van was identified on CCTV as well as footage of the defendant using a small axe to break a window of the synagogue.

The court was shown video of Morgan pouring liquid from his green petrol can through the window before he is engulfed in a ball of flames.

Police arrested him at his home in Alexander Terrace in Exeter.

As he opened the door to officers, the defendant, who smelt of petrol and burning, exclaimed: “That didn’t take long”.

He had burns to his hands, forehead and hair, the court heard.

In his pockets, he was carrying two lock knives and two lighters.

As he was put in a police van, Morgan said: “Please tell me that synagogue is burning to the ground, if not, it’s poor preparation.”

Later, as his burns were being treated in hospital, he told staff “it was like a bomb going off”.

The attack on the synagogue was described as “devastating” for the whole Jewish community.

The court heard the attack coincided with a Jewish feast day commemorating disasters, including the Holocaust.

The Exeter Synagogue, built in 1763, is the third oldest in Britain and remains a focal point for the Jewish community in the South West.

It underwent reconstruction in the 1990s and a £100,000 restoration project was completed in 2013.

The cost of repairing the fire damage was said to total more than £23,000.

The court heard how Morgan performed his song “White Man” under the alias of Arland Bran.

His song calling for “White Man” to “kill your enemy” was played 53 times, “liked” twice and shared once.

ITV News

Tommy Robinson guilty over Facebook broadcast

By
July 5, 2019
Uncategorized

Ex-English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson has been found in contempt of court for his Facebook Live broadcast of defendants in a criminal trial.

He was found guilty of interfering with the trial of a sexual grooming gang at Leeds Crown Court in May 2018.

High Court judges found his conduct “amounted to a serious interference with the administration of justice”.

The court ruled that Robinson committed contempt by breaking reporting restrictions.

The 36-year-old, from Luton, had denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not believe he was breaching reporting restrictions and only referred to information that was already in the public domain.

One of the senior judges, Dame Victoria Sharp, said the court will consider what penalty to impose for the contempt – which carries a maximum penalty of two years – and give full reasons for the decision at a later date.

He was originally jailed for 13 months after being found in contempt of court on the day of the broadcast but was released two months into his sentence after winning an appeal.

The case was then referred back to the attorney general, who announced in March that it was in the public interest to bring fresh proceedings.

BBC News

Man convicted of racially abusing Rochdale taxi driver

By
July 2, 2019
Uncategorized

A man has been convicted of racially abusing a Rochdale taxi driver after the New Zealand mosque shootings.

Sean Allen, 33, has been ordered to pay £100 compensation to his victim plus £320 in court costs, and to serve a community order with a six-week curfew.

Police were called to Queensway on 17 March to claims the driver’s passengers referred to the Christchurch attacks while abusing and threatening him.

The case against Natalie Rudman was dismissed by Manchester magistrates.

Both had denied the offence at a previous hearing.

Like Allen, Ms Rudman, 34 and from Heywood, had been charged with racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm, or distress.

Allen, of Collyhurst, must also pay an £85 victim surcharge.

The Rochdale incident took place two days after 50 people were killed in two mosque attacks.

BBC News

Fine For Pensioner Who Told Black Woman ‘When Brexit Comes You Will Be Gone’

By
July 1, 2019
Uncategorized

A pensioner who told a black woman “when Brexit comes you will be gone” during an outburst in a betting shop has been fined £600.

John Keogh, 74, appeared at Croydon Magistrates’ Court and admitted committing a racially aggravated offence on August 30 2018.

In addition to the fine, he was handed a 12-month community order and told to pay costs and compensation to his victim.

John Keogh was fined £600 after telling Anneka Davis ‘when Brexit comes you will be gone’

Keogh lashed out at Anneka Davis while she was working at the Coral bookmakers in Peckham, south London, last year.

Prosecutor Jacqui Hughes said he told Davis she would be “gone” after becoming impatient while he waited for a £200 betting win to be handed over.

Hughes said: “Keogh came into the bookmakers to claim some winnings.

“He became impatient and when he was given the money, he told her, ‘When Brexit comes you will be gone’.

“She asked him what he meant by that and asked him to leave.”

Keogh also admitted calling Davis a “fucking n*****” as he left the shop, clenching his fists as he approached her at the door and causing her to “fear for her safety”.

Davis attended court to give evidence and said she was unable to work for five days after the incident because of stress.

Keogh leaving Croydon Magistrates Court on Monday

She said: “Due to the comments made by the man in question, I questioned whether I was welcome in this country as a black person.

“Due to the climate and everything that is going on with Brexit, I felt that I was questioning myself and whether I belonged.

“I was born in this country and I have lived here all my life. I can’t help that I was born black.”

Tariq Al-Mallak, defending, said there was “no explanation that could justify that behaviour” before telling the court Keogh suffers from PTSD following a car accident.

Chairman of the bench Douglas Hunter handed Keogh a community order lasting 12 months, in addition to a 10-week nightly curfew.

Hunter said: “People should be able to go to their place of work without fear of being abused in any way.

“It has had an impact on this young lady far beyond just that incident.”

Keogh was also ordered to pay £250 in compensation to Davis, costs of £350 and was banned from the Coral shop for one year.

The 74-year-old glared at Davis in the public gallery as he left court.

Keogh, of Lindsey Street, Bermondsey, admitted one count of racially aggravated public disorder.

Huff Post

Belfast man who threatened to kill Muslim after New Zealand terror attack given four month jail sentence

By
June 28, 2019
Uncategorized

A Belfast man who phoned a Muslim to say he was going to be killed in the wake of the New Zealand terrorist massacre has been jailed for four months.

Billy Dean, 50, was told he had committed an “appalling” offence by contacting the victim in England a day after the shootings at two mosques which claimed the lives of 51 people.

Dean, of Ebor Street in the city, was convicted of improper use of communications to cause anxiety.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard he made the call on March 16 this year after obtaining the victim’s number on a Facebook page for a mosque in Birmingham.

Prosecutors said he phoned the man and stated: “You will die today you stupid Muslim, you will be killed.”

West Midlands Police were alerted and traced the number to Dean.

When officers went to the defendant’s home days later and made a call to that number his phone started to ring.

Dean was arrested and claimed he did not remember anything about the incident because he had been drinking, the court heard.

He told police that he had been agitated for the previous couple of weeks.

A Crown lawyer confirmed that the victim is attached to a mosque in Birmingham.

“This phone call was made the day after the incident in New Zealand; the injured party reported that they were concerned for their family,” she said.

On March 15 this year a gunman opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch in a rampage live-streamed on Facebook.

Another 49 people were wounded in the attacks.

Dean’s barrister stressed he was at home in Belfast when he made the call and had not attempted to conceal his own number.

“He accepts that he does have anger management problems and that if somebody doesn’t agree with his views he can, to put it bluntly, fly off the handle,” counsel said.

“He accepts that he made this phone call because of what he saw on television in New Zealand at the time.”

Highlighting the context of Dean’s actions, District Judge Fiona Bagnall said: “The timing of it aggravates it even further from just the content, which is appalling in itself.

“There will be four months immediate custody.”

Dean was then released on bail pending an appeal against the prison term imposed.

Belfast Telegraph

Football fan jailed for assaulting Blackburn stewards

By
June 27, 2019
Uncategorized

Ewan Corbett admitted assaulting two stewards at a Blackburn Rovers match

A fan who assaulted two stewards at a football match has been sentenced to 23 weeks in a young offenders institution.

Ewan Corbett, 20, punched one steward and pushed another one over at a match between Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough in February, police said.

Security staff were attempting to remove a supporter from Ewood Park’s away end when Corbett attacked them.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault at Preston Magistrates Court on 17 June.

Corbett, of Albermarie Drive, Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, was also given an eight-year football banning order.

PC Dan Fish said: “Corbett’s actions against two stewards just doing their jobs were shocking and disgraceful.

“This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated and this kind of sentence shows the seriousness of behaving in this manner.”

BBC News