UK

Pensioner sentenced for telling woman to get back to her own country

The Crown Prosecution Service said the victim had been walking with her two young children at about 3pm on July 1 when passers-by heard Leslie Blaney making various racial insults and telling her to "get back to her own country where she belongs". Stock image
The Crown Prosecution Service said the victim had been walking with her two young children at about 3pm on July 1 when passers-by heard Leslie Blaney making various racial insults and telling her to "get back to her own country where she belongs" The Crown Prosecution Service said the victim had been walking with her two young children at about 3pm on July 1 when passers-by heard Leslie Blaney making various racial insults and telling her to "get back to her own country where she belongs". Stock image

A self-declared white supremacist has been given a community order after telling a woman wearing a headscarf to get back to her own country.

Leslie Blaney (65) was sentenced on Friday for racially abusing the mother in Workington, Cumbria, a spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

The spokesman said the victim had been walking with her two young children at about 3pm on July 1 when passers-by heard Blaney making various racial insults and telling her to "get back to her own country where she belongs".

The two members of the public challenged Blaney and were verbally abused by him before they flagged down a passing police van.

In a police interview Blaney described himself as a white supremacist who believes that all "non-white English speaking people should leave England and have no part here", the CPS spokesman said.

He pleaded guilty at Workington Magistrates' Court on Friday to racially aggravated behaviour with intent to cause the victim harassment, alarm and distress.

Pamela Fee, for the CPS, said: "Leslie Blaney, a self-declared white supremacist, unleashed a torrent of racial abuse at a young mother as she walked down a busy street with her young children, simply because she was wearing a headscarf.

"Spouting such poisonous views in a public place is not acceptable in today's society and we will continue to bring before the courts those who commit hate crime offences.

"I would like to commend the two witnesses who intervened to protect the young woman and quickly alerted police to the ongoing incident.

"Had it not been for their courage and support, the victim would have walked away and Blaney would never had been brought to justice for his deplorable actions.

"I would encourage anyone who hears racist abuse or sees a repeated pattern of racist behaviour to come forward to report it, regardless of how minor an incident it may initially appear."

Blaney was sentenced to a community order with a curfew for 10 weeks and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £90 victim surcharge.