A drunk man who told people worshipping in a mosque that “white people will destroy you” has been handed a suspended prison sentence.

Alexander Hooper, 57, told a classroom of children at the Masjid Darassalaam in Peterborough that their prophet “was a paedophile”, according to prosecutor Mark Jon Parkhouse.

Hooper, of Dogsthorpe Road, Peterborough pleaded guilty at a separate hearing to a religiously aggravated and to a racially aggravated public order offence. He also admitted to assaulting a female police officer who was called to the scene and arrested him on October 24.

On Friday, (December 19), he was sentenced at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court to 27 weeks in prison suspended for 18 months. He was also given a Criminal Behaviour Order which bans him from all mosques in the unitary area of Peterborough for two years.

Mr Parkhouse told the court that Hooper had been drinking before he entered the mosque at around 6.15am on October 24. Hooper claims that he didn’t remember much as he was so drunk.

The court heard that Hooper went upstairs where children were studying and said “their prophet was a paedophile”. The prosecution also said the defendant went into a washroom where a man was performing ablutions.

Hooper told the man “it’s a death cult, you want to kill people”. The prosecutor went on to say Hooper mentioned the name “Tommy”, which Mr Parkhouse suggested was a reference to the political activist Tommy Robinson and “to show he (Hooper) feels he’s part of this group”.

“The mosque was targeted because of their religion,” Mr Parkhouse said.

“It’s a sustained incident, it’s 40 minutes of a big powerful man ranting at children.”

A trustee of the mosque has said that since the incident, they have started locking the door of the mosque and “always have a minimum of two members of mosque staff on security duty”, Mr Parkhouse said.

Jason Stevens, mitigating, said Hooper was agnostic and “a person who’s interested in religious ideology”.

“The fact is my client has got himself very drunk and intoxicated and gone to the mosque,” he said.

He said Mr Hooper has mental health issues. Mr Stevens said Hooper, who is on benefits, accepts he said “white people will destroy you”.

Presiding magistrate Jonathan Jelley sentenced Hooper to 27 weeks in prison suspended for 18 months. He ordered that he pay £100 compensation to the female police officer who he assaulted, and a further £272 in prosecution and court costs.

Hooper was also made subject of a two-year Criminal Behaviour Order banning him from entering any mosque in the unitary area of Peterborough.

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The judge said that their offending was designed to cause ‘serious distress’

A racist trio who dumped severed pig’s heads outside buildings used by people of Muslim faith have been jailed, reports The Express.

The series of Islamophobic hate crimes, which included sprawling graffiti on walls that read “no mosques”, took place in Rainham, east London, in July last year.

Harvey Wells, 21, Josh Campbell, 34, and James Desbois, 30, have now been jailed for more than seven years in total, after they “deliberately and strategically” targeted buildings which included those used by children.

Wells left the animal remains outside the Rainham Village Children’s Centre, the Royal Youth Community Centre and Harris Academy. He also sprayed graffiti on the walls of the premises on July 25 last year, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

The Rainham Village Children’s Centre had been running Islamic classes, while the Royal Youth Community and Harris Academy centre had been used for community prayers. Supt Simon Hutchison confirmed at the time the incidents were being “treated as Islamophobic hate crimes”.

Louise Oakley, prosecuting, said that in a “message of religious hostility”, raw pigs heads were “deliberately and strategically placed” alongside the graffiti. She added: “The Crown’s case is that the writing was deliberate and motivated by religious hostility.”

Wells, of Hutton, Essex, and Desbois, of Herongate, Essex, both admitted three counts of religiously aggravated damage to property. Campbell, of Hutton, Essex, denied the charges but was convicted of three counts of religiously aggravated damage to property.

Wells and Campbell were both jailed for 32 months, while Desbois was jailed for 25 months. Wells was seen on CCTV trying to hide his face as he got out of the car and took the pigs heads out of black bin liners before placing them outside the buildings.

Helen Harrow, the headmistress of the Rainham Village Primary School, which is attached to the children’s centre, said in an impact statement: “The school walkway was cleaned 23 times, but the graffiti still remains. It is a reminder of what happened.

“Nearly half of the children are Muslim, and I have Muslim staff. I am now constantly worried about going to school and seeing more graffiti on the windows.”

Sentencing the three men, Judge Gerard Pounder said: “These offences took place in the early hours of 25 July last year. The area that was targeted was an area called Rainham in the London borough of Havering.

“Typical of many areas in London, it is made up of diverse communities which strive hard to accommodate cultural differences. People work together to promote harmony and mutual respect.

“On that day the three of you decided to embark upon a series of three acts specifically intended to disrupt that harmony. I don’t know why you did it. There must have been substantial planning. These premises were not identifiable as mosques. There were no minarets or anything like that.

“The three pigs heads would have to been sourced, and would have to have been collected. You must have known that the next day people would attend the premises for prayers.”

He added: “This is a particularly nasty thing to do in another community. It is obvious that your offending was designed to cause serious distress.”

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