Aspects of violence and sexual harm
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02645505211058094 |
In court
Nigel Stone, Visiting Fellow in the School of Psychology, University of East Anglia,
reviews recent appeal judgments and other judicial developments that inform senten-
cing and early release.
Aspects of violence and sexual harm
Aggravated ‘Category 2’ABH assault
A prominent national journalist, a gay man, was celebrating his birthday in a central
London bar in the later evening. He was recognised by certain customers who
engaged in ‘light-hearted interaction’with him. When he and his companions left
H. followed him, launching a flying kick to his back that knocked him over before
punching him as he lay on the pavement. H.’s associates attacked the victim’s
friends when they tried to intervene, H. punching one of the latter while an associate
kicked the victim further. Though the attackers ran off on learning that the police had
been called, H. was traced and told the police in interview that he had sought to
remonstrate because his drink had been spilt and had hit out in self-defence when
attacked. He maintained this account on pleading guilty to ABH assault and
affray at Crown Court. Having conducted a Newton hearing the judge determined
that H.’s version of events was untrue. A police search of H.’s home had located
items that persuaded her that he held far-right wing political beliefs and she con-
cluded that he had committed a wholly unprovoked attack on the victim because
of his ‘widely publicised LGBTQ advocacy and left-wing beliefs’. Apart from his inju-
ries the victim reported that the experience had left him worried for his own and his
partner’s safety. He felt increasingly at risk and had been obliged to change his
day-to-day routine, no longer walking alone and taking taxis even for short
distances.
Aged in his late 30 s, H. had asignificant record of offences relating to violence
or disorder, mostly football-related (including violent disorder in 2011 when he
attempted to enter a pub to confront rival supporters), though none were recent. In
sentencing him to 32 months for the assault, with 10 months concurrent for the
affray, the judge identified the former to feature ‘greater harm’within the relevant
Guideline (Assault, 2011), arising from a sustained, targeted and unprovoked
The Journal of Communit
y
and Criminal Justice
Probation Journal
2021, Vol. 68(4) 496–507
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/02645505211058094
journals.sagepub.com/home/prb
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