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Britain First activist Mandy Smith from Canterbury admits assault during Margate anti-Ukip protests

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September 19, 2016
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A Britain First activist arrested during clashes with anti-Ukip protestors has admitted assaulting a demonstrator.

Mandy Smith, from Canterbury, is said to have retaliated after a camera was reportedly pointed at her face at the party’s spring conference at Margate’s Winter Gardens.

The 50-year-old was part of a group of activists who gathered outside the venue after declaring on Facebook they were “defending Nigel Farage from the leftwing rabble”.

The incident happened after demonstrators – led by Thanet Stand up to Ukip – marched up the hill to protest at the conference on Saturday.

Britain First posted on its Facebook page that Mandy Smith had been arrested.

It added fellow activists had “invaded” the police station to “support her” and later posted: “A big well done to Mandy and the other south east activists who defended the Ukip meeting yesterday.

“Freedom of speech will prevail.”

Britain First leader Paul Golding also posted support for Smith, later saying she was wrongfully arrested after pushing a camera away from her face.

Smith was dealt with by a method called restorative practice, in which she gave the victim – who suffered no injuries – a verbal apology.

For the method to be used, offenders must admit the offence, but they are not left with a criminal conviction.

Police spokesman Lisa Humphrys said: “A 50-year-old woman from Canterbury, who was arrested in Margate on suspicion of assault has been dealt with by way of restorative practice in liaison with the victim.

“Apart from this one incident, there have not been any physical confrontations and the protest was generally conducted peacefully.

“As with all such events, the primary role of Kent Police is to work with the partners to facilitate peaceful protest while ensuring public safety.”

Kent Online

Courtroom photo lands right-wing activist Amanda Smith in prison

By
September 18, 2016
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A far-right activist who photographed a suspected rioter in a court corridor has been jailed for three weeks.

Amanda Smith, 52, snapped the defendant as he appeared at Canterbury Crown Court accused of violent disorder at the Dover riots.

Her lawyer, Kerry Waitt, attempted to claim Smith was a court reporter, having attended many of the riot hearings.

But Judge Adele Williams told Mr Waitt: “I don’t think you can compare this defendant and her activities to our very well-respected court reporter from the Kentish Gazette.”

Smith, of Shipman Avenue, Canterbury, was spotted by security staff taking the picture as others posed for it outside Court 6.

She has now been jailed for 21 days after admitting being in contempt of court.

The mum of two was told by the judge: “Your conduct was wholly unacceptable – especially taking a picture of someone waiting to be dealt with for violent disorder.”

It has been an offence for 91 years to take photographs in and around courts in England and Wales and is regarded as a common law contempt, attracting jail sentences.

Mr Waitt said Smith was “not present at what has now become known as the Dover Riots but she has an association with the South-East Alliance”, regarded as a far-right group.

He added: “This is a group which shares views on politics and immigration and other topical matters. They communicate with each other in chatrooms.

“And as she lives near to the court and it being school holidays she was encouraged by others and agreed to come to the court to report to families of those who were in court.”

He told Canterbury Crown Court that Smith worked at a “local education establishment” and now “bitterly regrets allowing herself to become involved” in taking the photograph.

“She was invited to take a photograph and didn’t apply her mind to what she was doing,” he said.

“She is now contrite and has learned her lesson.”

Judge Williams said security staff were aware that Smith had attended many of the hearings involving those alleged to have taken part in the riots in Dover in January.

Kent Online

Thugs boasted on Facebook about starting a ‘war’ in pizza shop after attacking and racially abusing staff

By
June 20, 2016
Uncategorized

Drunken thugs boasted on Facebook about starting a ‘war’ in a pizza shop after attacking and racially abusing workers, smashing a door and hurling pizza boxes around the shop.

Brothers Jamie York, 32, and John Alexander Brown, 19, both of Greenwood Avenue, Mansfield Woodhouse and Shaun Andrew Bowers , 35, of Crompton Road, Mansfield were caught on CTTV in Chicho’s on High Street, Mansfield Woodhouse.

All three had been to Bowers’ grandfather’s funeral on January 26, had been drinking and went for food at the shop before 8pm that day.

However, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard how an argument broke out over the size of a pizza and things ‘turned very badly’, according to defence solicitor for Brown and York, Chris Perry.

The court was shown extensive CCTV footage of the incident which showed punches being thrown, pizza boxes and dishes being hurled between both the defendants and the shop workers. Racial insults and threats were also heard.

At one point Brown is seen picking up a ‘wet-floor’ plastic sign and throwing it at the staff. The staff can also be seen swinging a wooden stick around to defend themselves.

One member had to be later taken to hospital with bruising and swelling.

Brown was seen later seen returning to the shop and kicking the door, damaging it.

Two of the three defendants were later found to have posted entries on Facebook with what prosecutor Robert Carr described as ‘rejoicing at what they called a war’, and laughing and bragging.

But in mitigation, the court was told how the defendants do not consider themselves to be racist and insults may have been shouted in the heat of the moment.

Mr Perry said: “They did not intend to cause trouble, there were events that led to this inexcusable behaviour.

“The catalyst for it was very innocuous.”

Bowers admitted racially-aggravated provocation of violence and was handed a 12-month community order with 200 hours of unpaid work, £200 compensation and £145 in costs.

Brown admitted criminal damage and two counts of assault, while York admitted racially-aggravated criminal damage and two counts of racially-aggravated assaults.

They each received 18 weeks’ jail for the assaults, plus four weeks for the criminal damage charges, all suspended for 12 months.

They each had to pay £750 in compensation, Brown was also given 200 hours of unpaid work while York was given a three-month curfew order.

All three were handed a one-year restraining order to not enter the pizza shop.

Mansfield Chad

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South Yorkshire yobs fined over racist behaviour on train

By
May 11, 2016
Uncategorized

South Yorkshire yobs have been fined for their behaviour on a train after a Britain First demonstration.

The men, all members of the self-named ‘South Yorkshire Casuals’ group, were fined at Barnsley Magistrates Court after they started chanting religiously offensive songs as they travelled between Leeds and Barnsley.

Dale Kelk, aged 33 of Woodhall Road, Darfield, Barnsley; Julian Jones, 42, of Ravenna Close, Kendray, Barnsley and Paul Collins, 35, of Lindsey Avenue, Parson Cross, Sheffield, were part of a larger group of men which had travelled from South Yorkshire intending to go to a Britain First demonstration in Dewsbury in January.

But the court heard that the group was intercepted at Leeds railway station by British Transport Police officers who were concerned about their behaviour.

They were advised against attending the demonstration and issued with dispersal notices banning them from the area .

The group was escorted back to South Yorkshire on a train by a number of British Transport Police officers.

The court heard the group began chanting and despite being asked by officers to quieten down, Kelk, Jones and Collins ‘persisted to display unacceptable behaviour’.

They were arrested as the train stopped at Barnsley station.

Kelk pleaded guilty to a public order offence and was fined £133 and ordered to pay £100 costs and a £20 victim surcharge

Jones and Collins both pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated public order, with Jones fined £120 and Collins £173.

Both were ordered to pay £300 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Inspector Granville Sellers, from British Transport Police, said: “The train was extremely busy and the behaviour of Kelk, Collins and Jones was very uncomfortable and distressing for the other passengers on board who should not have to be subjected to such abhorrent conduct.

“The policing of these demonstrations can be very challenging; however British Transport Police will not tolerate inappropriate and offensive behaviour or language on the rail network and we will always take positive action against anyone who demonstrates such unacceptable behaviour.”

Sheffield Star

Racist mob lures pizza driver to Pontefract club and beats him up

By
March 4, 2016
Uncategorized

A PIZZA delivery driver was horrificially attacked and racially abused during a “mob attack” after being lured to a West Yorkshire pub.

Leeds Crown Court heard up to 30 people looked on as the 31-year-old victim suffered a broken jaw and cheekbone as he was repeatedly punched and kicked.

The court heard a number of people were involved in the violence and others ignored the injured man’s pleas for help when he begged them to call police.

One man, Simon Lawrie, 31, came out of the pub and shouted abuse before hitting the man as he lay injured over a wall.

He lost consciousness from the blow.

Richard Walters, prosecuting, said the victim had been called to deliver food to the Chequerfield Pub, Pontefract, at around 7.30pm on May 15 last year.

When he arrived outside two men began to punch him repeatedly. He was then dragged from his car and held as more punches were thrown at his face.

Mr Walters said a woman came out of the pub and asked the two attackers why it was taking so long to kill the victim and shouted more racist abuse at him.

He was then kicked repeatedly before Lawrie came out of the pub and joined the attack.

The victim briefly lost consciousness but was then able to crawl. He screamed at onlookers to ring the police but those witnessing the attack ignored his pleas.

The driver eventually ran through the gardens of nearby homes and was eventually helped by someone who took him inside his home and blocked the entrance to prevent further attacks.

Lawrie, of Monkhill Avenue, Pontefract, was arrested and said he had attacked the man after his 10-year-old daughter had gone into the pub and told him that a man had asked her to get into his car.

He pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm. A month before the attack Lawrie had been made the subject of a community order for punching a man in the Malt Shovel pub, Pontefract.

Sean Smith, mitigating, said Lawrie had overreacted to the information given to him by his daughter.

He added: “There had been concerns in the local area that individuals connected to a certain pizza parlour had been carrying out this type of behaviour in the locale.”

Mr Walters said there was no evidence that the victim had behaved inappropriately and he had only been working for the fast food firm for five days before the incident.

Lawrie was given an 18 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work.

Lawrie was also told to pay £500 compensation to the victim.

Recorder Nigel Sangster, QC, said: “It is a matter of shame that so many people watched this. The people who did not help should be ashamed of their behaviour.

“The man who took him in should be praised.”

Yorkshire Post

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Brothers who mocked judge on Facebook after being spared prison are hauled back to court and jailed

By
February 26, 2016
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Daniel Sledden posted an obscene message on social media just 40 minutes after leaving court, which was then followed by a comment from his brother Samuel boasting about their sentence

Two brothers who mocked a judge on Facebook after she showed them mercy have been jailed for two years.

Daniel Sledden, 27, had posted an obscene message on the social media site – just 40 minutes after Judge Beverley Lunt gave him a suspended sentence for selling cannabis to friends earlier this month.

In the message he wrote: “Beverly Lunt go suck my ****.”

His brother and co-defendant Samuel Sledden, 22, who also had admitted drug dealing, also commented on the post.

He said: “Bet we wouldn’t get a chance like this agen [sic], thumbs up’.”

Both brothers were hauled back before the courts for a review of their sentence after the Facebook posts were shown to the judge.

At the hearing, Judge Lunt said she was ‘misled’ by their words of remorse and contrition to the probation service and ‘must now put this right’.

Sentencing, she said: “These were not private entries in a diary which have been inadvertently published.

“They were placed on Facebook with the clear intention that others should and would read them and if they wished to share them so there is a limitless audience.

“Daniel Sledden’s post was only 40 minutes after I sentenced him. Samuel Sledden’s was one hour and 25 minutes and their content is clearly indicative of how they really felt about appearing in court for this particular offence. Their tone is boastful and jeering and the only reasonable inference in my judgement is they believed and were boasting that they had somehow fooled and misled the court.

“These are two grown men and not children showing off using rude words. They both knew exactly what they were doing when they wrote these posts and why they did it and they didn’t care who saw what they had written.”

Judge Lunt said the posts were only deleted from Facebook and apologies posted after being contacted by solicitors.

She added: “Each of the posts indicated they hadn’t changed at all. They haven’t taken on board anything or learned responsibility and there is no remorse at all.

“It is not possible to put any reasonable positive spin on the posts that either defendant as being some clumsy way of how lucky they had been to be given a second chance.

“The tone in each case is one of contempt and gloating, Emoji’s included.

“I’m entirely satisfied that in this case there is evidence brought before me which leads me to the short conclusion I was misled by each defendant on grounds of remorse and contrition and how much they had changed in the intervening months.

“I must now put this right and it is necessary and in the interests of justice I do so and it is necessary in order to maintain public confidence in the courts.”

Daniel, Samuel and their dad William, 45, all of Hopwood Street, Accrington, were all given suspended sentences after pleading guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis at the earlier hearing.

Defence barrister Daniel Prowse said both brothers have now become international figures of ridicule.

He told the court how they had acted in a ‘wholly improper way’ and will ‘never live this down’.

Preston Crown Court heard how Daniel Sledden was contacted by his solicitor after the story about their comments was published by the M.E.N. and was ‘advised and instructed’ to delete the comment and put up an apology.

The post from Daniel Sledden read: “I want to say how sorry I am for what I wrote about Judge Lunt and my sentence.

“I was very lucky not to be sent to prison and I was very stupid to have written what I did. I want to say sorry to Judge Lunt and to anyone else who was upset or offended by my thoughtless post which I did not mean.”

Mr Prowse, representing Samuel but speaking for both defendants, said the timing of brothers’ Facebook comments indicate they were ‘severely emotionally affected’ and did it ‘without any thought as to the consequences or propriety of what they were doing.’

He said: “The comments demonstrate what little thought they were given because, ungrateful as they are, they are also nonsensical in so far as the offending comments are directed against the court which has in essence just given them a favour by not sending them to prison. They don’t even make sense.

“Neither defendants assumed their comments would be seen beyond their group of friends on Facebook and they weren’t intended to be shared or communicated directly with your honour.

“They have had time on remand to reflect on their stupidity and ingratitude.

“Both have offered their apologies through their respective advocates and on a written basis.

“Daniel’s comment, which was the more serious of the two, had been deleted from Facebook and he had put his apology on Facebook in that same very public medium.

“They have become national if not international figures of ridicule because none of those stories have reported what they did in anything other than a wholly negative light and commenting on the rank stupidity and ingratitude.

“Certainly word has gone forward that the kind of idiotic comments posted will result in people going to custody.

“They have been properly punished by virtue of the remand and becoming such figures of humour and ridicule as they are. They will in my submission never live this down.”

Manchester Evening News

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Gang attacked man with metal bars after barbecue row

By
February 18, 2016
Uncategorized

A gang attacked a man with metal bars and pieces of wood outside his house – following a row about barbecue parties.

Two of the six men involved in the frightening assault in Wath-upon-Dearne last July have now been jailed for their part in the attack during which their victim was knocked unconscious and badly injured.

Jack Houlton

Jack Houlton

The victim said he had been living ‘like a prisoner in his own home’ following the attack that involved one of his neighbours.

Danny Hare and Jack Houlton were both jailed at Sheffield Crown Court after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ian Goldsack, prosecuting, said the victim’s rear garden backed onto the neighbouring property lived in by Hare, who had moved in a few months before the attack.

He said after a number of ‘minor or petty’ disagreements between them, on June 30 Hare had hosted a ‘noisy barbecue’ in which water balloons were thrown towards the victim’s open kitchen window.

Mr Goldsack said when the man asked them to stop,‘threats and abuse’ were shouted towards him.

The man hosted his own family barbecue on July 4 which ended around 10.30pm.

Mr Goldsack said shortly after midnight a man had gone to the victim’s house and repeatedly banged on the front door.

The man left after the victim said he would call the police.

Shortly after, the man left the house to walk his aunt home but six men came out of a passageway and chased him as he tried to run home.

Mr Goldsack said: “As he got to the front door, he tried to grab the door frame but felt his legs being pulled away.

“There was then a heavy blow to the back of his head and he could hear shouts of ‘Get him out of the house’.

“He thinks he lost consciousness.

“He came to in the front garden and his stepson and aunt were pulling him towards the house.”

Mr Goldsack said the man recalled being hit numerous times.

He said the victim was a self-employed builder who had at least six weeks off work because of the injuries, which included a fractured cheekbone, double vision and nerve damage.

The 36-year-old said he had been ‘living like a prisoner in my own house’ following the attack and knowing some of the people that attacked him were still at large.

Dermot Hughes, representing Houlton, said his client was now ‘remorseful’.

He said: “He has expressed sorrow for what happened to the victim. It must have been an awful attack.”

The court was told Hunt hoped to have his sentence suspended so he could return to Sheffield to live with his mother and restart working.

Judge Julian Goose QC said: “This was a frightening attack in front of his family and friends. This has caused him considerable harm.”

Hare, 28, of Bushfield Road, Wath-upon-Dearne, was jailed for two years.

Houlton, 26, of Trough Drive, Thrybergh, was given a lesser sentence of 20 months’ imprisonment because of his earlier guilty plea.

Sheffield Star

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Woking man fined £350 for racially harassing Muslim woman in ‘petrifying’ outburst

By
February 4, 2016
Uncategorized

David Sadgrove, 61, shouted “you are a terrorist” at Mrs Saltana, who was with her two-year-old child, in November last year

A Woking man has been fined more than £350 for shouting ‘you are a terrorist’ at a Muslim woman in the wake of the Paris attacks.

David Sadgrove, of Courtenay Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of racially aggravated harassment at a hearing at Guildford Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (January 19).

The 61-year-old man was arrested on November 15 after he asked Zamurd Saltana to move her car, which was parked on the pavement near his home, and became abusive.

Mrs Saltana was visiting someone in the street and had a two-year-old child with her.

Prosecuting, Johnson Shittu said: “She had just parked her car on Courtney Road when Mr Sadgrove had approached her and he asked her if she was a Muslim and if she was religious.

“He started to become abusive and aggressive.”

Mr Shittu said Sadgrove had sworn at Mrs Sultana and said: “‘You have killed so many people in Paris’”.

“It was clearly petrifying,” he said.

The court heard that two other men heard the noise as Sadgrove continued to shout: “You are a terrorist, you are going to blow someone up.”

Defending Sadgrove, Trudi Levico said the attacks in Paris provided context to the offence and that the defendant had a ‘myriad of problems’, caused by chronic arthritis in his hip and knee and was aided by a walking stick.

“He was on the pavement and he couldn’t get past those vehicles,” Mrs Levico said.

“He says he starts a relatively civil conversation about moving it.

“He has had problems on that stretch of the road before, it must be one whereby vehicles in order to free the road up park on the pavement.”

Once Sadgrove became abusive, two men living in the street came outside, including Parvaiz Mohammad, who Sadgrove also verbally abused.

Mrs Levico argued that Mrs Sultana did not state she was ‘petrified’.

“She says in her statement that when the two males come out he makes various comments to them,” she said.

“One of the males said to him to ‘try it’ and see what they would do to him.

“She told them to not talk to the English man like that.

“[The statement] said, ‘he was an old man and he looks ill to me’”.

The bench heard that Sadgrove had previous convictions in 2011 and 2003 but did not have a ‘pattern’ of offending.

He is a recipient of the disability living allowance and other benefits while waiting for an operation and was deemed ‘unfit’ for unpaid work for the offence.

Sentencing Sadgrove to a fine of £382, chair of the bench Mrs Lesley Shanks said the racial element to his offence had increased his debt.

“You were swearing and those offences did happen in front of a two-year-old child,” she said.

Sadgrove was fined £200 for the first offence and £75 for the second.

He was also ordered to pay £87 in costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Get Surrey

David Sadgrove

Man sentenced for fireworks attack on Rhyl mosque

By
January 18, 2016
Uncategorized

Magistrates expressed surprise that no-one else was charged alongside Keith Edward Hall, 38, of Bath Street, Rhyl

Keith Hill

A man has been given a suspended prison sentence for a firework attack on a mosque.

Magistrates saw video footage which showed Keith Edward Hall twice approaching the Islamic Centre in Rhyl, lighting the fireworks and pushing them through the letterbox on November 11.

In the background, a man and woman could be heard laughing and shouting: “Hurry up.”

Having seen the film, Prestatyn magistrates expressed surprise that no-one else has been charged in connection with the attack.

Hall, 38, of Bath Street, Rhyl, had pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated criminal damage at the centre in Water Street.

In the footage, filmed from the doorway of the Bow Bar opposite, Hall was seen approaching the mosque twice in 20 minutes.

In a victim impact statement, Rafiq Ullah, the centre’s treasurer, said the damage could have been much greater had they not taken measures to improve fire safety after a previous incident.

He said people could easily have been injured as the prayer room was behind the door.

The incident occurred only two days before the Paris shootings, and Mr Ullah said tension at the mosque was high in that period. It eased when Hall was arrested.

When interviewed, Hall said he could remember very little about the incident because he had drunk eight litres of cider and eight shorts.

He woke up the following morning with a sore arm where part of the letterbox surround had hit him when it was blown off.

He denied being a racist and claimed to have several friends from ethnic minorities.

Alex Fitzgerald, representing Hall, said he found it “astonishing” that no-one else had been charged even though they were interviewed.

Mr Fitzgerald told the court that Hall did not even realise that the building was a mosque.

“It was not born out of a deep-seated hate of the Muslim community, but was an act of utter stupidity,” he said.

“He is embarrassed at his stupidity and wishes to apologise. Alcohol affects his thinking and his behaviour.”

Hall was given a 16-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months, and must also observe a 7pm-7am curfew and attend a six-month alcohol treatment course and 25 days of rehabilitation.

He was also ordered to pay compensation of £558, costs of £300 and a surcharge of £80.

The Bench made a restraining order prohibiting him from entering Water Street for 12 months.

Daily Post

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Former Swanage soldier jailed for child abuse images

By
January 16, 2015
EDL, English Defence League, Jailed

A FORMER soldier who planned to “frame” his partner’s ex-boyfriend by downloading child pornography onto his computer has been jailed for six months.

John Broomfield, 28, from Bell Street, Swanage, admitted 20 counts of making indecent images of children.

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Kerry Maylin said Broomfield had been arrested and two computers seized on July 22 last year.

After the computers were forensically examined, 236 indecent images were found, depicting children and babies.

Ms Maylin said Broomfield had told police he had downloaded the images in a bid to get his partner’s ex-boyfriend “off her back”, adding: “He was going to download them to the other man’s computer, until his conscience got the better of him.”

In Broomfield’s defence, the court was told that he was “anti” child pornography and had been “disgusted” by the images he had made.

After eight years’ exemplary military service, Broomfield had been medically discharged after suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. He was planning to do voluntary work.

Sentencing Broomfield, Judge Samuel Wiggs told him: “I regard your potential use of these images as being particularly serious.”

Broomfield will be on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

Dorset Echo

This story is from June 2011.

You can read about his EDL activities here