A woman who confronted an Asian man during an English Defence League demo and assaulted two police officers when she was arrested has escaped a jail term.

Karen Elizabeth Marsden, 40, joined in offensive chanting as part of the EDL protest in Dewsbury town centre last June, Kirklees magistrates heard.

The demo was a protest against alleged Muslim paedophiles and Marsden approached the Asian man with a leaflet and suddenly hit out at him. Marsden was arrested and police had to use CS spray to subdue her.

Marsden had denied threatening behaviour and assaulting two police officers but was convicted after a trial.

Marsden, of Whitwood Mere, Castleford, was warned to expect jail but magistrates imposed an 18-month community order with a supervision requirement. She was ordered to pay £260 towards costs of £620. Magistrates rejected an application for an anti-social behaviour order.

Mrs Vanessa Schofield, prosecuting, told how Marsden hit out at the Asian man and there was a confrontation. Marsden was arrested but struggled and officers had to use handcuffs, leg restraints and CS spray. When an officer checked on her in the back of a police van later she spat at him.

Mr Noel Trussler, for Marsden, said his client only joined the protest because of a previous experience in her life, which he did not explain. He said she now knew she should not protest in that way.

She went to trial because she was concerned at how she had been "manhandled" by police, said Mr Trussler. She was being treated for a "borderline personality disorder" and planned to move to Hawes in the Yorkshire Dales with her fiancee.

Huddersfield Examiner, 23 February 2013

Via ENGAGE

Marsden in fact elected to go to trial because she claimed to be entirely innocent. According to her version of events, she had been subjected to an unprovoked assault by a group of Muslims while the police stood by and did nothing, only to arrest her as soon as she resisted her attackers.

This cock-and-bull story was publicised by the Hitler admirers of the British People's Party ("No doubt we will see more of this sort of treatment of the decent people of Britain as the corrupt Government and Police Force continue their plans of islamification and destruction of our once great country") and was also promoted on the far-right forums at Stormfront and the Vanguard News Network.

You might wonder why the most extreme, neo-Nazi, white supremacist elements of the far right rallied so enthusiastically to Marsden's cause. The answer can be found here, here and here.

(Marsden's arrest would appear have taken place during a demonstration on 23 June 2012 organised by the National Front and the Infidels, not the larger EDL protest a week later. So the Examiner report is misleading.)

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An office worker who left a severed pig's head outside a Muslim place of worship on Boxing Day has been spared jail.

Liam Ferrar was sentenced to 12 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for a year, after a court heard he was disgusted by his actions and had written a letter of apology to his victims.

Ferrar, 24, of Leicester, pleaded guilty last month to causing religiously aggravated harassment after leaving the frozen pig's head on the steps of the city's Thurnby Lodge community centre.

Sentencing Ferrar at Leicester magistrates court, the district judge John Temperley described the offence as being "to some extent planned, premeditated and targeted".

He told Ferrar: "You were well aware of the significance of your actions. You knew that what you did would cause great distress, indeed that was your intention."

The court heard that Ferrar was under the influence of alcohol when he placed the pig's head – which had been stored in a freezer for several months – in an area where it could not be avoided by adults and children arriving for prayers.

Stressing that the offence had taken place against a background of protests over the community centre's use as a place of worship, Temperley added: "It is easy to imagine the shock, distress and disgust [those who discovered the pig's head] would have felt.

"The witnesses statements I have read bear testimony to the serious impact of your actions, but the harm you caused goes further. Others in the local community and beyond would also have been affected when news of this incident spread, prompting profound alarm, fear and insecurity.

"It should have been obvious that what you did was intimidatory and would only serve to inflame an already tense and volatile situation."

Suspending the 12-week prison term because of Ferrar's personal mitigation, including his previous good character, the district judge accepted that the defendant regularly gave his time and energy to local good causes.

"The character references I have read do you great credit. I also accept that you have demonstrated genuine remorse and regret for your actions. You co-operated with the police and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity," Temperley said.

He ordered Ferrar to complete 250 hours of unpaid community work and to pay £85 in costs.

Louise Cox, prosecuting, told the court that a group calling itself Forgotten Estates had stepped up protests at the community centre last summer.

The defence solicitor Stephen Morris said the protest group, of which Ferrar was a member, aimed to highlight the lack of facilities in the Thurnby Lodge area.

Claiming that his client had chosen to distance himself from Forgotten Estates in September last year, Morris said: "The behaviour by Mr Ferrar on this occasion is out of character – he is not somebody who displays racist tendencies."

Press Association, 18 February 2013

See also Leicester Mercury, 18 February 2013

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A father-of-three working at the Torness nuclear plant sparked a security alert at Waverley Station by telling fellow travellers that two 
Muslim men were carrying a bomb.

David Rothenburg claimed innocent passengers Mohammed Shobair and Zaithoon Akhtar were terrorists as he hurled racial abuse at them. The 36-year-old, who had drunk seven pints of Guinness, followed the men around the station making the insults before being arrested by British Transport Police officers.

Rothenburg avoided a prison sentence yesterday at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after his lawyer made a "compelling argument" that his client was suffering from work-related stress. Instead, Sheriff Gordon Liddle ordered Rothenburg to carry out 200 hours of community service and pay a compensation order of £1500.

Rothenburg, of Cleethorpes, Yorkshire, earlier pleaded guilty to committing a racially aggravated breach of the peace on February 20.

The court heard that Rothenburg had been working at Torness, in East Lothian, and was staying at city hotel to see his partner before travelling to work at another power station. Defence solicitor Mark Harrower told the court that his client had argued with his partner the night before about the stress of his workload.

Mr Harrower said: "On the morning that the offence was committed, the accused went to Waverley Station at around 8am to buy a train ticket. He went to the bar and had his first drink and did not get on the train immediately. His partner works nearby and she was coming and going to the station to try and patch things up. He had seven pints of Guinness during the morning."

Mr Harrower said that he was duty solicitor that day and found first offender Rothenburg "devastated" when he visited him in custody and told him what had happened.

The lawyer added: "He completely understands the effect his behaviour would have had on his victims. It was always his intention to plead guilty. He has written a letter of 
apology to the complainers. He is full of remorse. It was a terrible mistake by someone who is normally a decent, law-abiding individual."

Mr Harrower said that his client had not had a holiday for 12 months before the incident. He added: "His job produces a lot of pressure. He works long hours for days on end."

Sentence had been deferred to obtain reports.

Sheriff Liddle said that the offence could attract a "fairly considerable custodial sentence" but said that a "compelling argument" had been made about the stress Rothenburg had been under.

Edinburgh Evening News, 2 November 2012

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