Archive

Tag Archives: Sunderland

Right-wing activists jailed over violent clashes between neo-Nazis and anti-fascists in Liverpool

By
November 24, 2017
Uncategorized

Opposing factions hurled missiles and caused up to £25,000 of damage to St George’s Hall left daubed with Nazi swastikas

Right-wing activists involved in violent clashes between neo-Nazis and anti-fascists outside Lime Street Station have been jailed.

A woman was left scarred for life, a man suffered a broken nose and a police officer was knocked unconscious in ugly scenes last year.

Liverpool Crown Court heard opposing factions hurled missiles and caused up to £25,000 of damage to the historic St George’s Hall.

Nazi swastikas were daubed on walls, cobble stones were torn up from the building’s plateau and a Victorian statue was damaged.

Shane Calvert, Wayne Bell and Brian Stamp today appeared in court, alongside allies Nikki Prescott and Alan Raine. Calvert admitted conspiracy to commit violent disorder, while Bell was convicted after a trial. Prescott, Raine and Stamp admitted affray.

Bell liaised with Merseyside Police to organise “The White Man March” for now-banned fascist terrorist group National Action on August 15, 2015.The event, in Liverpool, ended in “humiliating failure” for the far right, after they were met by a much larger group of counter-protesters.

Simon Driver, prosecuting, said the fascists “were forced to take refuge in a left-luggage facility” before police escorted them to trains. Stung by the embarrassment, another far right group, the North West Infidels, headed to Liverpool on February 27, 2016.

Police were not informed and organiser Calvert deliberately changed the location of the “anti-immigration demonstration” from Manchester to Liverpool.

Brian Stamp, 34, from South Shields, jailed for 16 months after admitting affray

Brian Stamp, 34, from South Shields, jailed for 16 months after admitting affray

Fascists were again met by police and counter-protesters but had enlisted a group of Polish men called the “Polish Hooligans”. One cluster of far right-supporters congregated at the Crown Pub, including Stamp, Prescott and Raine, at around 11.30am.

A second group, including Calvert and Bell, gathered on the steps of St George’s Hall, as trouble flared at around 1.30pm.

Mr Driver said: “They displayed North West Infidels banners and neo-Nazi flags. They made gestures, which included the Nazi style ‘sieg heil’ salutes.”

CCTV showed the stand-off, with rival factions separated by riot police, who held the first group at the pub and escorted them away. Smoke canisters and fireworks were thrown and, at 2.30pm, the group near the hall were joined by the Poles.

Wayne Bell, 37, from Castleford, jailed for two and a half years after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit violent disorder

Wayne Bell, 37, from Castleford, jailed for two and a half years after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit violent disorder

They wore black hoodies emblazoned with “Polska Hooligans” and badges showing a person being kicked, captioned “good night left side”.

Police came under attack from both sides with industrial fireworks, flares, bottles, cobble stones and eggs. Mr Driver said: “A police inspector was knocked unconscious by a missile and a police constable suffered a broken wrist.”

A young female bystander suffered a facial gash requiring plastic surgery and a man suffered a cut and broken nose. People attending an antiques fair within the hall had to be locked in for their own safety.

A 75-year-old black woman who emerged was racially abused and struck in the forehead by a stone. Police eventually encircled the fascists and marched them to the station.

Shane Calvert, 36, from Blackburn, jailed for two years after admitting conspiracy to commit violent disorder

Shane Calvert, 36, from Blackburn, jailed for two years after admitting conspiracy to commit violent disorder

Mr Driver said Calvert wished to “avenge” the previous defeat, as shown in text messages to a man called Garron Helm. He and Bell, who bragged of punching left-wing activists “like that game whack attack”, recruited the Poles.

They exchanged messages talking of “payback time for Liverpool” and Bell spoke of “the local n***** population”.

Stamp boasted of buying “bad boy” gloves with reinforced knuckle-pads, which he was filmed wearing. Raine was recorded threatening “I’ll bite your f***ing face off” and Prescott yelling “come on then, let’s f***ing have it”.

Judge Menary imposed criminal behaviour orders, banning the five men from entering Liverpool for five years, for their “planned hooliganism”.

Billy Duggan, from Duggan & Parr Stone Repair Ltd, surveying the graffiti on St George's Hall

Billy Duggan, from Duggan & Parr Stone Repair Ltd, surveying the graffiti on St George’s Hall

He said: “There will, I have no doubt, be those on both sides of this political divide who are motivated by a desire to promote genuinely-held ideological beliefs – however repugnant or deeply offensive those views might appear to others.

“But I am equally sure that many of the people involved in the disorder on these occasions have made the journey or have involved themselves for no reason other than to behave like hooligans.”

Judge Menary jailed Calvert, 36, from Blackburn, for two years and Stamp, 34, from South Shields, who “came to Liverpool prepared for a fight” for 16 months.

He jailed Bell, 37, from Castleford, for two and a half years, telling him: “Your attitude towards other groups was deeply offensive, racist and you celebrated violent confrontation.”

Unemployed Raine, 41, from Sunderland, and doorman Prescott, 43, from Blackburn, each received 16 months in jail, suspended for two years.

Raine received a 25-day rehabilitation activity, 200 hours of unpaid work and a four-month home curfew, from 8pm to 6am. Prescott must complete a 30-day rehabilitation activity, 250 hours of unpaid work and pay £500 compensation.

Liverpool Echo

Peter Scotter, who ripped woman’s niqab off in Sunderland, sent sick message to a child

By
July 19, 2017
Uncategorized

The 56-year-old harassed two adults and a child months before pulling a woman’s clothing off during a racist assault.

The vile thug who ripped a woman’s niqab off in a Sunderland shopping centre has pleaded guilty to sending a sick message to a child.

Peter Scotter, 56, admitted to three incidents of harassment in which he sent abuse to an under-16, a woman and a man.

Scotter, of Sunderland, was jailed for 15 months in July over a vicious assault in 2016, during which he tore a woman’s niqab off and screamed “you are in our country now, you stupid f****** Muslim”.

Appearing at Sunderland Magistrates’ Court via video link from HMP Holme House in Stockton, Scotter laughed and muttered “I’m paying nothing” when ordered to pay two of his victims compensation.

Outlining the case against Scotter, prosecutor Laura Lax said the relationship with the woman that had ended 11 years ago and a restraining order preventing him from contacting her was made soon after in 2008.

The woman, who is now in a new relationship, received gross Facebook messages in November 2016 calling her “an ugly woman” and demanding that she perform a sex act on him.

He then bragged about the fact that he had knocked her teeth out during an assault during their relationship.

Shortly after, Scotter began drip-feeding poison into the inbox of the woman’s husband, calling him a “child molester”, a “nonce” and a “beast”.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said: “I suffered for years at his hands.

“I’m still scared to go into Sunderland city centre alone in case I bump into him because he knocked my teeth out.”

In a separate incident, Scotter cowardly abused a child via Facebook messages.

Ms Lax revealed that he had also made twisted comments of a sexual nature about the child to police, as well as making a violent threat.

Scotter’s defence solicitor, Anna Haq, said: “I don’t think I need to go into the offences, they speak for themselves.”

She said that Scotter had pleaded guilty to the charge in February 2017 but the case had been pushed back because of Scotter’s case at Newcastle Crown Court over the racist attack.

Delivering Scotter’s sentence, magistrate Joan Green said that it was a “particularly nasty offence” and handed him 6 weeks in prison – but the sentence will run concurrently with his current jail term, meaning he won’t serve a day extra behind bars.

Scotter muttered “I’m paying nothing” as magistrates discussed financial penalties and, when ordered to pay £100 to the child and the man, he laughed to himself.

He was also ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge and the court made restraining orders preventing him contacting the victims.

Newcastle Chronicle

Jail for Sunderland man who launched racist attack on woman wearing an Islamic head garment

By
July 3, 2017
Uncategorized


A serial criminal who launched a foul-mouthed racist attack on a woman wearing an Islamic head garment has been locked up for more than a year.

Peter Scotter’s barrister insisted it was no co-incidence that his client committed the offences just weeks after the Brexit referendum last year and amid continued political discussions

“playing the race card”.

Scotter, 56, of Beach Street, Roker, Sunderland, assaulted the mother, who was shopping with her nine-year-old son and husband, and said “you are in our country now” before beginning his tirade of racial abuse.

The force he then used to pull off the niqab garment in July last year in the Bridges Shopping Centre, Sunderland, caused her to fall to the floor.

Tony Hawks, defending, told Newcastle Crown Court that in the weeks leading up to the attack certain politicians and sections of the press had been “playing the race card”.

He said there was “no doubt that what he did was an ignorant and despicable piece of behaviour” and he was an “ignorant and ill-educated man” who “knows nothing whatsoever about Islam”.

But he added: “It’s no coincidence that this occurred within a week or so of the Brexit referendum. Where the press and politicians were banging the drum about taking our country back.

“They were playing the race card and, in the case of Ukip, a disgraceful advertisement showing a queue of refugees.

“He has to take responsibility for his own actions, but is it simply a coincidence that after listening to weeks of that rhetoric the defendant was not affected?”

Prosecutor Neil Pallister told the court that Scotter was escorted out of the centre by a security guard after the assault but refused to comply with two police community support officers and continued the torrent of abuse.

At a previous hearing he admitted racially aggravated assault by beating and racially aggravated harassment.

He has also been receiving treatment for cancer in his mouth, meaning Monday’s sentencing hearing was postponed a number of times.

The court heard he had 70 previous convictions, including throwing bricks with racist stickers on them at a house with refugees inside.

Mr Pallister said the victim described how she regularly suffers abuse but that this was way beyond what she and her family normally endured.

She said it had left her fearful to go out and “disgusted” that it had happened in front of her son.

Members of the public who ran to her help spoke of their shock and one shop assistant said she was moved to tears.

Jailing Scotter for 15 months, Judge Stephen Earl said he had used “appalling language” in a public place.

He said: “Comments such as these cannot be acceptable in a civilised society.”

He also ordered him to pay a victim surcharge of £140.

Sunderland Echo

Peter Scotter jailed over Sunderland niqab attack

By
July 3, 2017
Uncategorized

A man who pulled a niqab off a woman’s face and called her a “stupid” Muslim has been jailed for 15 months.

Peter Scotter shouted “You are in our country now” when he attacked his victim, who was with her young son, at a Sunderland shopping centre last July.

The 56-year-old, of Beach Street, Roker, had admitted racially aggravated assault by beating and racially aggravated harassment.

He was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court.

The judge said it was “appalling abusive behaviour grounded in religious bigotry”.

At an earlier hearing, the court was told the victim, 29, was standing outside the Bridges shopping centre when Scotter grabbed her veil and almost threw her to the ground.

After his arrest, he said: “She could have been a bomber.”

His victim was left feeling as if she could not go out, prosecutor Laura Lax said.

Tony Hawks, defending, said Scotter had recently been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour under his tongue and was due to undergo surgery.

He had 66 previous convictions, including actual bodily harm and racially aggravated criminal damage.
BBC News

Victim left battered with shoeprint on her face after street beating by Sunderland thug

By
July 1, 2017
Uncategorized

A street assault victim found her attacker sound asleep in her bed when she returned home after the violence.

The woman was battered and bruised, with a shoeprint on her face, after a beating in the street by Jordan Stacey.

Newcastle Crown Court heard when the injured mum realised the 24-year-old was asleep in her bed and could not be woken, she locked him in the house and the police were contacted.

Prosecutor Paul Rowland told the court the victim had been in a previous relationship with Stacey, which had broken up a year before the attack on May 8.

Mr Rowland said the former couple had been on the same night out in Ashington where they had kissed and spent time together.

During the evening, the victim began to suspect Stacey had taken her telephone and a bunch of keys, which sparked violence when she confronted him.

The court heard during an initial attack Stacey knocked his victim unconscious with a blow.

When she came to and asked him for her belongings, the violence flared again.

Mr Rowland said: “He punched her with fists, knocked her to the floor and while on the floor she was kicked and stamped on, numerous times.”

The court heard Stacey ran off from the attack, which happened near a pizza shop and the injured victim eventually made her way home.

Mr Rowland added: “She found her front door open. She found her keys and her mobile phone on the table and the defendant was upstairs in bed, asleep.

“She tried to rouse him to get him out of the house.

“He could not be roused therefore she left and locked the defendant in the house.”

The court heard the victim went to her mother’s house and the police were contacted.

Stacey, of Villette Path, Hendon, Sunderland, was arrested and pleaded guilty to assault.

Stacey, who was on a suspended sentence and a conditional discharge at the time, pleaded guilty to assault.

He has previous convictions for domestic violence.

Judge Penny Moreland jailed him for 22 months.

The judge told him: “I have seen photographs of the injuries, abrasions to her face and a clear shoe mark plus two black eyes.

“It was a sustained attack.

“It seems you had taken her keys and phone from her.

“You used her keys to get back into her house, where you went to bed.”

Jamie Adams, defending, said Stacey accepts his behaviour was wrong and he has been taking positive steps while in custody.

Mr Adams said Stacey has an employment history and is “not without intelligence”.
Sunderland Echo

Man admits pulling niqab off Muslim woman in Sunderland

By
February 6, 2017
Uncategorized

Court hears Peter Scotter yelled ‘you’re in our country now’ at victim, who was in shopping centre with nine-year-old son

Peter Scotter gesturing to the media outside Newcastle crown court. Photograph: Nigel Roddis/PA


Peter Scotter gesturing to the media outside Newcastle crown court. Photograph: Nigel Roddis/PA

A man has admitted pulling a niqab off a woman in a shopping centre and yelling racist abuse at her.

Peter Scotter, 55, of Roker, Sunderland, appeared at Newcastle crown court to admit racially aggravated assault by beating and a separate charge of racially aggravated harassment.

Both offences were based on Scotter’s hostility towards a particular religious group, namely Islam, the court heard.

Tony Hawks, defending, said Scotter had been diagnosed with a serious cancerous tumour under his tongue last week and was due to have an operation next Monday. “I have seen some documentation showing that the diagnosis is pretty bad,” the barrister said.

The judge, Stephen Earl, said he would sentence Scotter later, once he had heard more details about the diagnosis. The judge said: “This is a custodial-band sentence, given his record and the nature of his actions.”

A previous hearing at Sunderland magistrates court heard how Scotter left his victim terrified when he attacked her in July.

Laura Lax, prosecuting, told the hearing the woman was waiting with her nine-year-old son for her husband outside a store in Bridges shopping centre in Sunderland when a man “purposefully” walked towards her and grabbed her niqab.

The force he used almost threw her to the ground and the niqab came away from her face, exposing her and causing pain to her neck.

She remembered being scared but was so shocked she could not remember what was said, magistrates were told. The niqab was damaged, but she has since repaired it.

Lax told the court the victim said afterwards: “This incident has left me scared to go out and I don’t want to go into town again. I am disgusted my nine-year-old son had to witness this.”

Another witness heard Scotter shout: “Here, take that fucking off, you are in our country now, you stupid fucking Muslim.”

When a police officer arrived, Scotter was being spoken to by a security guard and the defendant tried to walk away.

Scotter was heard to say: “Our Britain, you live by our fucking rules,” before coming out with more racist abuse.

He continued to make derogatory comments when he was interviewed after his arrest, Lax said.

When he attended previous hearings about the niqab offence, Scotter made a middle finger gesture to photographers outside court.

He has 66 previous convictions for 157 offences, including actual bodily harm, breaching a football banning order and racially aggravated criminal damage.

Scotter had been due to stand trial for the niqab offences next month.

The judge told Scotter he would be sentenced in three weeks’ time and granted him conditional bail.

As Scotter left court, he declined to answer why he was covering his face with a scarf and gestured defiantly to waiting photographers.

The Guardian

Woman backs partner’s bid to have nine-year jail term cut – despite being stabbed 14 times with a sword

By
November 23, 2016
Uncategorized

A thug whose girlfriend forgave him after he stabbed her repeatedly with a 12in sword has failed to persuade top judges to cut his sentence.

Paul Hutchinson, of Hereford Road, Hillview, Sunderland, left the woman with a fractured rib and 14 stab wounds in total to her chest, legs, arms and neck from the attack.
The 48-year-old was jailed for nine years at Newcastle Crown Court after being found guilty of wounding with intent in May.

His victim gave evidence in his trial and asked the judge not to lock him up.

She also wrote to the Court of Appeal, supporting his bid to have his sentence reduced.

Judge Jeremy Carey QC told the court she wrote she “doesn’t consider herself a victim” – and even suggested she was partly to blame for the incident.

But the judge said that, despite what his partner now says, at the time of the incident she was in fear and “vulnerable” – having been subjected to an hour-long ordeal.

He said judges are familiar with cases of domestic violence involving victims who wish to “forgive and start again”.

The court heard police arrived at the woman’s home during the early hours of November 30 last year and found her screaming, covered in blood and holding a tea-towel to her neck.

She told an officer in the back of an ambulance Hutchinson had attacked after drinking heavily.

She described being dragged by her hair, punched and kicked and then stabbed again and again.

Hutchinson had two earlier convictions for violence towards previous partners.

He was aggressive when arrested and told a female police officer he would “get her raped” if she didn’t let him out of the van.

The crown court heard he was hardworking and a supportive family man, who should have received a shorter jail term.

Dismissing his appeal, Judge Carey said the sentence was “not excessive” for the “sustained assault”.

Sitting with Lord Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, he added: “In our view, the judge was right not to regard the views of the victim as anything more than part of a narrative in this case.

“Trial counsel was able to say she did not come across as vulnerable at trial – indeed, quite the opposite.

“But the fact of the matter is that, whatever her demeanour at trial, on the night in question she was, in this court’s view, undoubtedly highly vulnerable.”

Sunderland Echo

ph1

Patient was abusive to Sunderland paramedics before spitting into police officer’s eye

By
November 17, 2016
Uncategorized
Peter Scotter. Credit: PA

Peter Scotter. Credit: PA

A man who became abusive to Sunderland paramedics who were trying to help him spat into a police officer’s eye in facing a jail sentence.

Peter Scotter, 55, carried out the act at Sunderland Royal Hospital – where he had been taken for treatment after being arrested, Sunderland magistrates heard.

Prosecutor Lesley Burgess said the incident started when police were called by the ambulance service at 6.20pm, on October 26, to Hendon Road, where Scotter was behaving aggressively.

As officers boarded the ambulance, they saw him sitting in a chair with a minor head injury.

Ms Burgess said there was a strong small of alcohol on Scotter and he seemed extremely drunk.

She said he then launched in to a torrent of abuse and – despite repeatedly being told to calm down – he continued his tirade and was arrested and taken to Southwick police station.

Ms Burgess said: “Due to the head injury he was then transported to Sunderland Royal Hospital.

“He was taken to a treatment room and appeared to calm down.

“He requested removal of the handcuffs but, after the nurses had left the room, he lunged forward and spat a mouthful of spit into the officer’s face.

“Some of this gone into the officer’s left eye.”

Scotter, of Beach Street, Sunderland, pleaded guilty being drunk and disorderly and assaulting a police officer.

Anna Haq, defending, said: “This incident in the hospital with the police officer. Mr Scotter is fully aware that, no doubt, you will be looking towards a custodial sentence in relation to this incident.

“Mr Scotter is ashamed of his behaviour and has no recollection of it.”

She added: “He’d had seven pints of alcohol but that would not put him into this state.

“He does not understand how he received his head injury.”

The case was adjourned for reports to be prepared and Scotter was told by the bench that they did not rule out custody.

He will be sentenced at South Tyneside Magistrates’ court on December 6.

Sunderland Echo

‘Get off the train’: Sunderland Metro racist branded asylum seeker a ‘bomber’ and ‘member of ISIS’

By
October 27, 2016
Uncategorized

tony-browning

A Metro racist claimed a fellow passenger was a “terrorist” and “member of ISIS” during a shocking rant on a moving train.

Tony Browning shouted that the 25-year-old asylum seeker, from Sudan, should “get off the train” travelling from Monument in Newcastle, branded him a “bomber” and threatened to hit him.

The 33-year-old fairground worker, who pressed the carriage’s emergency stop button at Gateshead Stadium, claimed his victim was a “smack head” who was carrying a needle or knife.

Newcastle Crown Court heard his claims led to the man, who spoke very little English, being questioned and handcuffed by police who searched for a weapon he did not have.

Browning, of Townsend Road, Sunderland, who has 113 previous convictions, admitted racially aggravated harrassment.

Prosecutor Neil Pallister told the court the victim was unclear about what Browning was shouting when he approached him on the train in March but knew he was swearing.

Mr Pallister said Browning “walked up and down the train, shouting” while other shocked passengers looked on.

One witness said Browning also shouted abuse at black passengers before he pressed the emergency brake.

Mr Pallister added: “He was repeating he was a terrorist. He didn’t want the train to move until the complainant had moved.

“He suggested the complainant was a member of ISIS.

“He told witnesses he had seen the complainant with a weapon or needle, something shiny or sharp and mentioned a knife.”

The court heard when police, who had been contacted by Metro staff, questioned the asylum seeker, who spoke virtually no English, he replied “yes” to every question, including if he had a knife.

Mr Pallister said: “He was replying ‘yes’ to all questions.

“Having said yes, police handcuffed him and searched him. No knife was found.

“The carriage was searched and no knife was found. Clearly, he did not have any sort of weapon.”

The court heard the victim now feels frightened to use public transport and worries about a similar situation happening again.

Judge Amanda Rippon told Browning: “You abused a young man on a Metro train in this city, who was doing no more than minding his own business, travelling as he was entitled to.

“You abused him not just generally, but racially, making reference to the colour of his skin, calling him a terrorist, accusing him of having a weapon and frightening him.

“This debacle was seen by other members of the public and it no doubt distressed them as well.

“You were calling him a smack head, a terrorist and telling him to get off the train, telling him you were going to hit him.

“The poor complainant ended up being handcuffed for a short time while police searched for a weapon you said he had, which he never did.”

The judge sentenced Browning to nine months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with supervision and programme requirements plus a £25 fine for breach of a previous suspended sentence.

Vic Laffey, defending, said Browning has since stopped drinking and found work at a fairground.

Mr Laffey said despite Browning’s long list of previous convictions, he has never acted in a racist way in the past.

Mr Laffey added: “He is at a loss to explain why he acted in such a reckless way on this particular day.

“It has not been a feature of his life before.”
Sunderland Echo

tb