Police Federation chairman calls sentence in officer abuse case “an utter joke”

The Huddersfield Examiner reports on the reaction of the chairman of West Yorkshire Police Federation, Nick Smart, to the conditional discharge sentence imposed on a man found guilty of racially abusing a female police officer.

John Moorhouse was handed a conditional discharge by Kirklees Magistrates Court this week after being convicted of racially aggravated disorderly behaviour.

Moorhouse called the female officer undertaking a curfew check “f****** P***” and demanded her badge number. The officer described the incident as the “worst she had ever experienced” in her 10 years as a police officer.

Moorhouse’s sentence, which the court explained derived from “some degree of provocation and disruption” caused by curfew checks was described by Smart as “an utter joke of a sentence.”

In a Facebook post relating to the court’s decision Smart wrote: “There is no deterrent with such a sentence and it undermines the whole issue of hate crime.”

“It would seem police officers doing their work diligently is an acceptable excuse to be a racist – and to be punished lightly.”

Smart called for a review of those sentenced for “physically and verbally attacking police officers.”

There have been recent cases where police officers responding to incidents have been subjected to racially aggravated verbal or physical abuse. These  include an officer who endured a “Ramadan rant” when he responded to a domestic disturbance call and a Muslim officer who was called a “terrorist” as he went about his duty apprehending a man after an incident at Blackburn railway station.