Man jailed for spitting at police officer during racist abuse incident at public park

The Hull Daily Mail reports on the sentencing of a man who verbally abused a group of people of ‘Iraqi or Iranian’ appearance in a public park and spat at a police officer who attended the scene.

Dale Kershaw appeared before Hull magistrates’ court last month in connection with the incident which happened on 29 August.

The court heard that police responded to a call from a member of the public who reported a friend being racially abused by a man in Pearson Park, Hull. Kershaw, who admitted racially aggravated harassment, use of threatening behaviour and assault of a police constable, was said to have shouted at the group who were sat in the park, “these f****** c**** shouldn’t be in our country. They think they can come over here, but I’m just not having it. F****** P*** c****”.

The group was described by one officer as being of “Iraqi or Iranian” descent.

When police responded to the distress call, Kershaw began walking towards one officer and started “swearing and acting aggressively.”

The officer and Kershaw’s friends tried to calm him down but he kept shouting. When arrested, Kershaw made “death threats” to the officers and spat in the face of one of them.

Kershaw reappeared before the court last week for sentencing. The court heard Kershaw had “22 previous convictions for 33 offences including violence and one racially aggravated offence, appeared for sentencing.”

Kershaw’s lawyers argued his mental health problems contributed to the outburst and urged the court to impose a suspended sentence with a supervision order. The court rejected the plea and sentenced Kershaw to 12 weeks in jail.

District Judge Frederick Rutherford told Mr Kershaw: “Your record for disorder and violence is absolutely appalling. These latest offences are just an extension of what you have done in the past.”

The local paper notes that the sentence was “for the assault on a police officer and there was no separate penalty for the other offences.” It is not clear why the racially aggravated harassment charge was not reflected in sentencing. Kershaw was also ordered to pay a £115 victim surcharge.