Hereford Times - 28th January 2016 - Page 2
Hereford Times - 28th January 2016 - Page 2
Image displayed may not be an exact representation of the image in the library. Colour and contrast may differ.
Image Details
| Date | 28/01/2016 |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Format | |
| Language | English |
| Area | Hereford Times |
| Collection Holder | |
| Date of Publication | 28th January 2016 |
| Transcription |
2 THE HEREFORD TIMES Thursday, January 28, 2016 Hereford Times herefordtimes.com Holmer Road, Hereford HR4 9UJ All you need for news and sport in Herefordshire 104,264 195,556 f ‘nfEALTH 42 ' JAIL AFTER ALLEY ATTACK . BUSINESS 44 Print and online readers t 1 week in prim, 4 weeks onlme. J/CREGI Eteimar October 3075: Unique browsers every month (Publisher‘s statement, .-‘.ugNov 20/5) Page views on website every month {Publisher's slalemcnt, Aug—Nov 2075i 43 ' TIMEOUT 45-51 ' COMMUNITY news SPORT Managing Director: Trevor Sal/is Editor: Peter John peter. john -' hereiordtimescom Head of Media Sales: Helen Palmer nelenpalmertt‘midlands. newsguestcouk Deputy Editor: Andrew Doyle andrewdoy/et" nerelordtimescom Sports Dept: Paul Rogers paui. rogers 2" here/ordtimes.com Leisure Editor: Philippa May phi/inpamay’fii heretordtimescom Write to us Ietters@herefordtimes.com 13,964 likes on fecebookcoml herefordtimes I Recycled paper makes up 78.9% of the raw material for UK newspapers 94- 99 " CLASSIFIED ADS 103 - 107 FAMILY NOTICES MOTOBING _ 134 - 142 108 - 110 111 - 133 Newsdesk: Phone: 07432 845805 Fax: 07432 845897 email: news‘i'. nerefordlimescom Advertising: Display: 01432 845301 Classified: 01432 270099 Fax: 01432 845899 Subscriptions: Call 01905 742212 email: subscriptionsfé‘ herefordtimescom or visit herefordlimes.com/ subscribe Deadlines: Display: 10am Tuesday Classified (lineage): 1.30pm Tuesday 17,401 followers on Witter at @HTneweroom heretordtimescom acist attack part of ‘Worrying trend’ ~ I FROM PAGE ONE LAST week’s court case was the third time this month that city magistrates have been told about ethnic minorities being racially abused in Hereford. Chris Chappell. a county councillor. said the cases amounted to a “worrying trend“ in which racism was almost becoming accept— able within certain commu- nities. Mr All, the court heard, moved to Hereford from Birmingham two months prior to the attack after finding work in the city Clare Linehan, prosecut ing. said Mr Ali was with his partner at 11pm on July 17 when four men walked past. “Evans walked up to them and said ‘there is no mosque here. go and prey to the bull.” added Ms Line; han. “Ali tried to walk away and told the defendant to leave him alone who con- tinued stating ‘it’s not your country". “Evans' friends told him to leave it and held him back but he continued stating ‘I‘m British and got a Brit ish passport’." Magistrates heard Evans. of Quicksetts, Redhill. Her» eford. then punched Mr Ali. , By Ben Goddard 0?8800591?2 beugcddardwmidlands. newsquestcouk Mrs Linehan added: “The victim’s girlfriend asked passersby for help at which point Evans made prayer actions and said he was ‘slticking up for British peo- p 9’.“ Nearby door staff attended the scene and Evans ran off before being arrested short- ly afterwards. Magistrates. who later found Evans guilty after trial in his absence of two charges of racially aggra- vated common assault, was told Mr Ali initially thought Hereford was “a friendly place”. “I hadn‘t experienced a problem with anybody" he said. “The incident has af- fected how I feel about Here- ford and has really knocked my confidence. I'm fright- ened to go out alone and don‘t at night. “The incident was really unpleasant with injuries to my lip and pain "in my jaw. What is worse is that it was racially motivated that af- fected me most and there was no reason apart from my ethnic background. One county councillor says there is a worrying rise of racism in Hereford. Picture: posed by models. “My partner is unsure whether she wants to move here now because of the incident so it has had a pro- found effect.” In interview Evans, a 28~year~old painter and dec» orator, said he had drunk six or seven pints along with shots. He remembered having an argument with a male but didn’t remember making the comments. Chris Morgan, defend- ing, said that the trial had slipped Evans’ mind and there was nothing he could say to defend his client. Magistrates ordered for the case to be adjourned for two weeks for an ‘all op- tions’ report’ and told Ev- ans that a prison sentence was ‘probably appropriate‘. He was released on con- ditional bail with the re- strictions not to contact the victims, not to be drunk in public and to cooperate with the probation service. Last week, the Hereford Times reported on a carer being racially abused by a man who later told city po- lice he wanted to join the Ku Klux Klan. That story had followed an earlier re- port regarding a soldier who made a racist remark while refusing to pay for a taxi journey to Lower Bull- ingham, Hereford. “No surprise over racism” THE Hereford Times has spoken to a number of parties working to com— bat prejudice to get their views on the recent racist attacks and to explain the help and support avail— able to victims of hate crime. Here are their comments. Chris Chappell, Council- lor for Hinton & Hun- derton “I’m very sad to hear there are still racists around. It is appalling but it doesn‘t surprise me as at all as I hear some awful things every day during conversa- tions in pubs and clubs say~ ing things about foreigners. It’s interesting the reason for them being racist and attacking people from dif- ferent faiths and religions. They need to know that the Christian community are all in favour of Muslims having their own mosque and will do everything to ensure they can practice their own faith. We need a cosmopolitan Hereford and when we have the university we will learn to be a lot more tolerant.” Adrian Symonds, West + Adrian Symonds, from West Mercia Police, said all hate crime is treated seriously by officers Mercia Police Equality and Diversity advisor for Worcestershire and Her- efordshire “These attacks are all sub- jective for the person. If they believe they have been targeted racially, then they have from our point of view. _ Reporting rates are gomg up slightly as we’re getting more people to report these crimes rather than more in- cidents. Low level crimes are some- Chris Chappell is saddened to hear “awful things” about foreigners every day times dealt with by com- munity support officers but if it is aggravated by hate they are always dealt with by a police officers. Any type of hate crime is taken really seriously by us.” Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) CEO Shazad Amin “All hate crime is repre- hensible and the impact on victims endures beyond the incident itself. The volume of hate crimes which consist of public or- der offences (verbal abuse) and attacks on individuals employed in the night time economy, such as taxi driv— ers, shows that we are fail- ing to protect some of the most vulnerable groups. Reporting hate crime to the police is a vital step to prosecuting offenders but we need far more to be done on preventative measures. f‘We cannot support vic- tims by prosecuting hate crimes alone, we also need to tackle the environment in which anti Muslim ha- tred festers.” ' Jabeer Butt, OBE Deputy Chlef Executive, Race Equality Foundation “Zahid Ali’s experience of rac1st abuse is shocking, but perhaps not surprising. Offimal figures suggest that there has been a rise in hate crimes in general and raCially motivated offences in particular. Prosecuting those who commit such crimes is one solution, but everyone must commit to challenging such behavrour, if we are to see real progress.” |
| Newspaper name | Hereford Times |