Wednesday 31 July 2019

On The Run: 61st In Line To Throne Flees Justice After Racist Assault

A homeless aristocrat, who is 61st in line to the British throne, spat blood and saliva at a casino doorman while racially abusing him and his supervisor after suffering a beating, a court heard.

Rowan Lascelles, 41, is on the run after jumping bail and not attending his City of London Magistrates Court trial on Monday, where he was convicted.

His father is The Hon. James Lascelles, 65, the second son of the 7th Earl of Harewood and a first cousin, once removed, of the Queen.

The trial heard Lascelles, who told police he was of no fixed abode when arrested, was chased and beaten by three homeless men outside the Hippodrome Casino, Leicester Square at 3am on June 18.

Doorman Vlad Florin told the court: “Three homeless men were chasing another male, who looked homeless, to beat him up.

“The three gave him a few punches and put him on the floor and we tried to stop them and they ran away and then the gentleman started having an argument with us.

“He started shouting at us, asking why we didn’t jump in to save him and he was abusive to us. He was racist towards us, calling the supervisor a: ‘Paki’.

“He told me that I was a muslim and I needed to go back to my country and where we come from we beat our women back home.

“He was very aggressive and it was making me feel uncomfortable because we were trying to stop him getting beaten up and instead of saying thank-you he started threatening and abusing us.

“He was bleeding from the mouth and nose and spitting blood on our shirts and he came back with a pen and paper, wanting names and badge numbers and then decided to spit.

“It was aggressive verbally and he clearly spat and it landed on my face and clothes.

“He tried to run away, but we followed him and restrained him on the floor until the police arrived.”

Prosecutor Sharon Michaels said: “It seemed that he had been in a fight with other people and the victims were security guards outside the casino and he racially abused them.

“He asked: ‘Are you f***ing legal?’ and called supervisor Amaar Dodhy a: ‘Paki’.

“He was spitting and had blood on his face from the fight and that went over them.

“The assault on Mr. Florin was that he purposefully spat at him and it landed on him.”

When questioned by police Lascelles denied the allegations and insisted he had not been racially abusive and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

However, the magistrates found him guilty of the racially aggravated assault of Mr. Florin and using racially aggravated threatening behaviour towards Mr. Dodhy.

They did not sentence the absent Lascelles, instead issuing a warrant for his arrest.

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