Pensioner fined after telling black woman 'when Brexit comes you will be gone'

A pensioner who told a black woman “when Brexit comes you will be gone” has been fined £600.

John Keogh also admitted calling the woman a “f***ing n*****” during his tirade at a bookmakers’ in south London back in August 2018.

The 74-year-old initially denied being in Peckham High Street’s branch of Coral, but pleaded guilty to a racially-aggravated public order offence on Monday 1st July 2019.

Prosecutors said he “unleashed a torrent of racist abuse” because he was angered by the woman placing his £200 winnings on the counter, rather than in his hand.

“He became impatient and when he was given the money, he told her: 'When Brexit comes you will be gone',” prosecutor Jacqui Hughes told Croydon Magistrates’ Court.

She said Keogh called his victim, Anneka Davis, a “f***ing n*****” as he left the shop, clenching his fists as he approached her at the door and causing her to “fear for her safety”.

Ms Davis told the court she was unable to work for five days after the incident, because of stress caused by the whole incident.

Staff at the Coral branch recognised Keogh boarding a bus a few days later and reported him to the police.

Ms Davis said in court that "Due to the comments made by the man in question, I questioned whether I was welcome in this country as a black person,” she added.

"Due to the climate and everything that is going on with Brexit, I felt that I was questioning myself and whether I belonged.

"I was born in this country and I have lived here all my life. I can't help that I was born black.”

According to the Independent, Chairman of the bench Douglas Hunter handed Keogh a one-year community order, a 10-week nightly curfew was enforced, and he was ordered to pay compensation to Ms Davis. Keogh was also banned from the Coral shop for one year.

“People should be able to go to their place of work without fear of being abused in any way,” Mr Hunter said.

The incident was the latest hate crime linked to Brexit, after police recorded a spike racist and xenophobic attacks in the wake of the 2016 referendum.

The Independent reported that Ian Johnson, from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Shop workers should be entitled to go about their work without facing racial abuse such as this, and we hope this conviction can bring the victim, as well as her colleagues, some confidence that justice has been served. Perpetrators may also face sterner sentences imposed by the courts to reflect the nature of the crime.”

If any person experineces or witnesses racism or any form of hate crime, they should always report. There are various ways to report depending on how much information people wish to give. 

You can ring the Police by calling 101 in a non-emergency situation, but always call 999 in an emergency. 

In Warwickshire, some people do not wish to contact the police directly, so they can report hate crimes/incidents to EQuIP, who are an independent charity. You can report online via the www.reporthatenow.com website, email EQuIP: advice@equipequality.org.uk, or people wishing to report would prefer to speak to someone in person, you can contact telephone EQuIP on 01788 863117.