Man who racially abused Muslim ticket inspector at Liverpool station fined

The Liverpool Echo reports in the sentencing of a man who racially abused ticket inspectors at Liverpool Lime Street station in May.

Andrew Randall, 38, arrived at Liverpool Lime Street station “2 or 3 minutes” before the 6.48pm Virgin train to London was due to depart.

Randall, who was carrying two pizza boxes and had been drinking, was asked to present his ticket before boarding the train by staff worker, Muhammed Waza.

Mr Randall told Mr Waza the tickets were “in there somewhere” and tried to board the train. When Mr Randall produced 12 old tickets, none of which was valid for travel on the specified train, Mr Waza instructed him that he could not board without a valid ticket.

Mr Randall became “agitated and angry” and shouted “F***ing Muslim P**i bearded c***s” at Mr Waza and his colleague.

Appearing at Liverpool Crown Court, Mr Randall admitted to two charges of racially aggravated intentional harassment after initially denying having used racist language.

Derek Jones, prosecuting, told the court: “There was no racist language until three or four minutes after the initial incident. It was thought he [Randall] had calmed down.

“He seemed to take a particular dislike to one of the men, threatening him and saying: “I should smash your face in, I’ll have you for dinner, I’ll chin you”.”

In a victim statement read out in court, Mr Waza said he had previously been “easy going and laid back” but the incident had made him “sceptical and wary of the public”.

The court heard Mr Randall’s actions were “out of character” and that he became “bitter and agitated and angry – the red mist descended.”

Mr Randall’s conduct was criticised by Judge Norman Wright as “disgraceful abuse” but he demurred from passing a custodial sentence taking into consideration Mr Randalls’ apology at the scene.

Mr Randall was handed a 15 week jail sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete 150 hours of community work.

Judge Wright told Randall: “I was told you did apologise at the scene, that shows a decency in you, that you realised you had gone too far.

“It is because you did apologise that you’re going to be walking out of this dock today – you came that close.”