Man who abused bus passenger in Salford jailed

The Manchester Evening News reports on the jailing of a man who subjected a fellow passenger to “vile and disgusting racist abuse” on a bus in Salford last year.

Jamie McMillan, 29, had been returning from seeing his ailing grandfather in hospital when he launched the shocking rant which was captured on camera. McMillan was arrested after the footage was uploaded to social media.

The abuse occurred at around 7:30pm on 18 June 2016, on a bus heading towards Salford.

McMillan pleaded guilty to two public order offences of racially aggravated provocation of violence when he appeared at Salford Magistrates’ court in January.

Prosecutor Eileen Rogers told the court McMillan began shouting at an “African” passenger saying “People like you and your scrotey family coming over and paying no tax”.

He then threatened the man, ordering him to get off the bus, and telling him he would “bounce this can off your head”.

The abuse then became more vulgar with McMillan shouting “Otherwise I’m gonna drag you to Hope Hospital, dirty little black ****, and make your family pay the f****** bills to keep my grandad alive.”

The victim was forced off the bus as McMillan followed him down the stairs. McMillan then went back up to the top deck while ranting on his phone, saying there were “n****** on the bus”. 

McMillan then returned downstairs and appears in footage next to the driver’s cab stamping on the floor, shouting “Daesh. Bang! Islam. Bang!”.

The driver kicked McMillan off the bus and explained to passengers that she been instructed by the operator to get to Salford, and then call the police.

The M.E.N reported that footage of the abuse had been shared over half a million times.

Suzanne Ludlow, defending McMillan, said her client had been in a “very dark place” due to deteriorating mental health. She said McMillan had become “embroiled in a family row” after visiting his grandfather at Salford Royal Hospital and had drunk “four or five cans of beer which combined badly with his medication”.

McMillan’s grandfather died six days after he visited him. The court heard that McMillan was made aware at the funeral that the footage of his rant was online. McMillan handed himself in to police after being made aware of the footage. 

The paper reports McMillan said he ‘blacked out and had no memory of the incident’. He admitted he woke up the next day ‘knowing I’d done something bad but I didn’t know what’.

Ms Ludlow told the court, “He accepts his behaviour was completely unacceptable and very upsetting.”

Magistrates sentenced McMillan to 30 weeks in jail. He was given 24 weeks for the racially aggravated offences and a further 6 weeks for activating a prior suspended sentence in connection with offences committed last year.

Chairman of the bench Pauline Sailsbury told the court, “Me and my colleagues have looked at this matter very carefully and we believe it was so horrendous that there is only one sentence that is appropriate and that is custody.”

Greater Manchester Police’s Superintendent Chris Allsop described McMillan’s behaviour as “abhorrent”. He said: “GMP is committed to taking a stand against hatred and discrimination and I believe this case shows just that.

“The message is clear – we do not and will not ever tolerate hate incidents and hate crimes in Greater Manchester.”