A 67-year-old man with nearly 200 previous convictions who was racially abusive to two men as they walked along an Ipswich street has had a 48-week prison sentence reduced to 24 weeks.
During Robert Bradlaugh’s appeal at Ipswich Crown Court, his barrister told the court that his client had been brought up in the era of the TV sitcoms “Until Death Do Us Part” and “On the Buses” which were “deprecated in today’s world.”
“It doesn’t make it right. He knows that,” said Jonathan Goodman.
He said Bradlaugh had been prosecuted in the past for drinking to excess and resorting to unacceptable language and it had never gone beyond that.
He said on the occasion Bradlaugh had been racially abusive to two men as they walked past his home he had been standing on his doorstep 15 to 20m away from them.
He accepted it must have been a “deeply unpleasant” incident for the men.
Bradlaugh was jailed for 48 weeks by magistrates last month for two offences of using racially aggravated disorderly behaviour with intent to cause alarm or distress in June and breaching a community order.
On Friday (November 26) Bradlaugh appealed against the sentence to a judge, sitting with two magistrates and had his sentence reduced to 24 weeks.
The court heard that Bradlaugh had come out out of his home in St George’s Street, Ipswich, in June as two men were walking back to their car and started shouting: “We have enough people of you here. Go back to your own country,” Ipswich Crown Court heard.
The men tried to ignore the comments but then heard Bradlaugh say: “I’m going to put you in hell if you don’t go away,” said Simon Gladwell, prosecuting.
The police were called by a neighbour and Bradlaugh told police he said stupid things when he was drunk.
The court heard that the community order had been imposed for a similar racially aggravated offence after Bradlaugh was drunk and causing a disturbance in the grounds of Ipswich Hospital near the Accident and Emergency department in July last year.
On that occasion Bradlaugh had been racially abusive to a security guard who tried to remove him from the site and called him a “cotton picker” and a “slave” and told him to go back to his "own country".
The court heard that Bradlaugh had 193 previous convictions.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here