Landlord Denies Sexually Assaulting Female Tenant

A landlord accused of sexually assaulting his female tenant pleaded not guilty to the charge yesterday.

Michael Charles Millet, 53, of Brampton Grove, Hendon will return to Blackfriars Crown Court for a jury trial on September 11.

He pleaded not guilty to sexual assault by touching at the address in Marchmont Street, Saint Pancras on February 13.

Millet also denies one count of exposing himself outside the address.

Mail Order Entrepreneur's £31,000 Postage Fraud

An online trader, who exploited a Royal Mail loophole to enjoy £31,000 in free postage to his mail order customers, received a suspended prison sentence yesterday.

James Wakefield, 33, is the boss of several internet companies and continued using his Printed Postage Impression (PPI) account for free despite it being suspended for misuse.

Leeds-born Wakefield, who ran his businesses from an address in The Quays in the city’s Concordia Street had the account because of the large amount of packages he posted out.

The success of his companies, which sold products such as sunglasses and aromas allowed Wakefield to move into an apartment in City Lofts, Tabernacle Street in London’s trendy Shoreditch.

The Royal Mail depends on its PPI customers declaring the amount of postage they used and during the scam Wakefield did not pay a penny.

“There aren’t many areas of business where one may rely on the other to tell it that it owes maybe ten or hundreds of thousands of pounds,” said Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court Recorder Michael Holland QC.

“It’s quite an open system. One relies on one’s customers to tell them how much is owed.”

Wakefield pleaded guilty to making or supplying articles for use in fraud, namely PPI’s to his company Focus Online between July 30, 2014 and July 8, 2015.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining services dishonestly, namely the processing of £31,465 worth of postage between the same dates.

He received eighteen months imprisonment, suspended for two years and was ordered to pay a £15,000 fine and £20,743 cost as well as £1,465 compensation.

During the investigation Wakefield offered to compensate the Royal Mail in full.

Prosecutor Miss Sarah Selby told the court the Royal Mail asses the loss at nearer £101,000, but to prove otherwise is an “impossibility.”

“The system was exploited by this customer. The system is based on trust and the customer is required to inform the Royal Mail as to what type of mail they are posting, how much and the weight.”

In May, 2011 Wakefield’s PPI account was suspended, but he simply continued using it unchecked.

“He continued to use the suspended account number, how is not clear, but they were attached to his packages in large volumes.

“No payments were made in respect to his postage and he instructed his Leeds employees to process orders and use the PPI labels to send them out.”

A random spot check at a Leeds sorting office in November, 3013 prompted a surveillance operation and Wakefield was arrested on July 8, 2015.

His home and business premises were searched and investigators found as many as 168 aroma products had been mailed for free on one day.

“This was a concentrated and sophisticated effort by this defendant to defraud the Royal Mail.”

"I'll Bite Your F***ing Nose Off" Wolves Fan Told Steward

A Wolverhampton Wanderers FC fan, who was refused entry to an away game for being drunk, told the gate steward: “I'll bite your f***ing nose off.”

Self-employed engineer Glenn Firstbrook, 36, of The Knoll, Kingswinford, Dudley was arrested and missed his team's 3-1 win at Championship rivals Fulham FC.

At Hammersmith Magistrates Court he pleaded guilty to using threatening behaviour towards Chirag Patel outside Craven Cottage on March 18.

Prosecutor Miss Arlene De Silva said: “He was refused entry at the turnstile and the steward took his ticket, saying he was too drunk.

The defendant replied: 'I'll bite your f***ing nose off,' and the police were alerted and he was arrested.”

Firstbrook insists he had nothing more than two pints of beer prior to the match and only reacted when the steward smirked at him.


He was questioned by police and said: “I just got a bit angry. It's the most ridiculous thing I have ever said.”

The first-time offender has been a Wolves season ticket holder for the last three seasons and between 1996 and 2005.

“He got very upset,” explained his lawyer Miss Annie Finn. “He was walking away, but when he saw the steward smiling, to use his words he: 'Lost it.'

“He does not usually drink at games and feels he has left himself and the club down as a representative.

“He has spent time in police cells and feels embarrassment and remorse.”

Firstbrook was conditionally discharged for twelve months and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Husband's Boozy Bust-Up With Police After Drunken Wife Hospitalised

A drunken recruitment consultant barged a policeman into a hospital wall while investigating the welfare his equally inebriated wife, who was found passed-out in a pub doorway with a cut eye.

Antony John Booth, 55, became aggressive and shouted at the officer: “You think you're a big man around here?” Hammersmith Magistrates Court heard yesterday.

Booth, of Cloonmore Avenue, Orpington also has a pied-a-terre Kensington apartment in exclusive Sheffield Terrace, where the couple were staying that night.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting Police Constable Jones at St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington on March 2 and was conditionally discharged for twelve months and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £20 victim surcharge.

Prosecutor Miss Sara Ashkboos told the court: “Police were contacted by paramedics treating the defendant's wife, who had been arrested.

“It's said she assaulted a paramedic and had been found lying in the doorway of a pub in Kensington Church Street by a member of the public with an injury to her eyebrow.

“The defendant has approached the paramedics and tried to speak with his wife and he is described as obstructive,

“He tried to get into the ambulance a number of times as they tried to treat her injuries.

“He became aggressive with the paramedics.”

At St. Mary's the trouble continued. “He was told by the police he would be arrested if he did not leave.

“The police officer grabbed him by the collar and led him away and Mr. Booth began jumping up and down shouting: 'Do you see this police brutality?'

“He barged into the officer and the officer hit a wall and banged his head on the wall.”

Booth's lawyer Mr. Stuart Harris said: “He came home alone to find his wife had been put into a police ambulance and there was a police presence.

“He was told she was being taken to hospital and was under arrest, but was not told which hospital.

He was kept in the dark and was given no information about her injury and became frustrated by the situation.

He's grabbed by the scruff of the neck and dragged towards the exit and accepts his shoulder went into the officer who was knocked into the wall.

“He accepts he was drunk that evening.”

Mum Assaulted Her Sister During Bitter Custody Dispute Over Her Three Children

Guilty Plea: Clare Gregg

A Hartlepool mother-of-three, who lost custody of her children to her sister, assaulted her sibling during a confrontation about alleged abuse.

Clare Gregg, 55, of Stockton Road sought-out Kathryn McAdam-Freud near her £1.3m home in Peckham Rye, south London.

She pleaded guilty at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court to assaulting her sister on July 26, last year and was fined £180, with £450 costs, plus a £30 victim surcharge.

“I took off her glasses and shoved her, so guilty,” freelance writer Gregg told the court from the dock.

“My sister was the aggressor. My daughter was punched by one of the adults.”

Her three children, aged 12, 14 and 16 years-old, were placed into the care of Kathryn by the Family Court, according to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The CPS told the court a non-molestation order exists, restricting Gregg's contact with her sister until November 30, 2022.

Prosecutor Miss Izelda Gribbin said: “This is a case of domestic abuse, the complainant is the defendant's sister and has custody of her children.

“She went to the address to see her daughter and Ms McAdam-Freud's cleaner said she was ranting and raving.

“The complainant's concern was for the children and the defendant took her glasses off her face and grabbed her arm.

“She has the children legally and is giving them the best care she can.

“There was some contact with the children, but that stopped three years ago.

Clare Gregg arriving at court

“Police have been called on several occasions and this defendant displays this behaviour in front of the children.

“The complainant says this defendant turns up at the address uninvited, calling her a child kidnapper and a paedophile.

“She says she doesn't feel safe and does not know when the defendant will turn up.

“She says she would like to move around without fearing Clare Gregg can turn up at any time and feels she is being stalked.”

Gregg's lawyer Mr. Abdul Mojid told the court: “The three children were taken from her ten years ago.

“There have been family proceedings and it has had an impact on Clare Gregg and she went to the house to see her children.

“It's also been extremely expensive for her, making three visits to London.

“She disputes the origin of the family proceedings and the fact her children have been taken from her in the first place.”

Chalet And Riviera Owner Flouted Company Director Ban

The wealthy owner of a landmark Swiss chalet imported to the Thames riverside has been fined £35,000 for running a company while banned.

Myck Djurberg, 57, lives in a the listed authentic chalet, imported in 1882, and is the boss of Hampton Riviera Marina & Boatyard.

The chalet and marina was listed for sale for £13m last year.

Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court heard Djurberg – aka Salvadeor Priost – was disqualified from acting as a company director by the High Court on November 27, 2008.

However, he was originally charged that between November 29, 2008 and September 7, 2010 he was a director of Lord Moser plc.

The company was concerned with civil engineering and general building work, with Djurberg described as an architectural designer.

He has designed 32 houseboats, which he hopes to sell for up to £850,000 .

The court ordered him to pay £25,000 of the fine by April 17 or serve fifteen months imprisonment.

War Of Roses: Mum & Daughter Convicted Of Garden Row With Doctor Neighbour

Convicted: Rosa & Rebecca Rahman

A retired GP, who pruned roses overhanging his garden fence, was warned: ‘Cut my plants again and you will die,’ during a bitter dispute with mother and daughter neighbours.

Sri Lankan-born Dr. Mathiaparanam Sreetharan, 73, was told by the university graduate daughter: “People in this country have a garden. Where you come from is just mud huts and no garden.”

Rosa Rahman, 75, and her daughter, production manager Rebecca Rahman, 46, of Balham Park Road claim the doctor poured weedkiller on their cherished rear garden to deliberately kill plants by the boundary fence.

Rosa was convicted of assaulting Dr. Sreetharan with a push to the shoulder in his front garden on July 5, last year and was fined £75, with £150 costs and ordered to pay a £30 victim surcharge.

Mum-of-one Rebecca, who attended London’s Guildhall University pleaded guilty to racially-aggravated threatening behaviour on June 30 and harassing the doctor between June 26 and August 23.

Dr. Sreetharan

She was placed on probation for twelve months and must complete 100 hours community service work. She was also fined £200, with £85 costs, with an £85 victim surcharge.

“I was clearing plants that had come onto my side of the property,” Dr. Sreetharan told Wimbledon Magistrates Court. “The neighbours were there shouting at me, very abusive language.”

The next day he found what he describes as the “death note” attached to his fence. “It was a shocking thing to observe.”

He audio recorded Rebecca’s “mud huts” comment on his phone, which also captured Rosa calling him a: “Bastard, coming here to bleed the country dry.”

Dr. Sreetharan, of Balham Park Road, explained: “They always talk at the top of their voice. I was really scared and was not sure if I was going to be attacked.”

He claimed they each had a brick in their hand, adding: “To save my life I drove to Tooting Police Station.”

The court did not find the women armed themselves with bricks outside their £750,000 house and cleared Rosa of a racially-aggravated charge in relation to her comment.

The former GP installed four CCTV cameras around his property and one was smashed with a metal spanner attached to the end of a long pole.

"Life's Work": Rahman Garden

Rosa’s shoved was captured on a worker’s phone. “She pushed my left shoulder and said: ’Nasty little man.’ I have pain in my shoulder and the pain was increased.

“Rosa also sprayed water and a hosepipe on me and my workers and once threw liquid from a washing-up bowl in my direction, but fortunately I jumped.”

The court cleared Spanish-born Rosa of harassment in relation to those allegations.

Dr. Sreetharan estimates the dispute has cost him £40,000, but was unable to produce any evidence. “It has caused me so much stress and trauma.

“My right wrist was also damaged cutting the thorny roses and my right knee gave way when running from my property to Wandsworth Police Station.”

Rosa told the court: “My life is the garden, I spent a lot of money on it and he started cutting everything he could reach. It’s my life’s work and he’s ruined everything.

“He was ruining my garden and I told him he was a horrible man. I was very angry, I just looked at my plants and cried.”

District Judge Barbara Barnes said: “This arises from a bitter neighbour dispute about plants and branches hanging over a fence and the dispute got out of hand last summer.

“The complainant was not a credible or convincing witness, unclear, rambling and confused. He was vague and at times obstructive and has exaggerated and embellished aspects of his evidence.

“I don’t find his account of being scared for his life or that these ladies came at him with bricks as plausible.”

Regarding Rosa she said: “I did not find her compelling either and she found difficulty admitting what she said, calling him a b****** and useless article.”

JAILHOUSE SHOCK: Paedophile 'DJ Elvis' Gets 14 Years For Raping Young Girl

Graham Horrix - aka DJ Elvis

Mobile disco entertainer ‘DJ Elvis’ has been jailed for 14 years for raping a young girl on the mattress in the back of his touring van over two decades ago.

Graham Horrix, 59, had a collection of porn and a quantity of condoms as well as his music equipment in the vehicle and has previous convictions for sexually abusing other young girls.

The father-of-two, of Priestwood Avenue, Bracknell was convicted of two counts of raping the girl when she was aged between four and fourteen years-old.

He was also convicted of three counts of indecently assaulting the girl in the Clapham area of south-west London, with the abuse starting when she was only five years-old.

The counts relate to a ten-year span between 1989 and 1999 and Horrix appeared in the dock at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court  sporting his trademark dyed-black Elvis-style quiff.

The complainant, now aged 31 years-old, told the court he also raped her on the bathroom floor of the house he was staying at.

After the verdicts she said: “Well, today I finally got the news I’ve waited so long to hear. The disgusting, vile paedophile Graham Horrix is now in prison.

“I have spent so much of my life feeling ashamed of what happened, made worse by it being constantly dismissed and being told to forget about it.

“He was found guilty this morning and was sent straight to prison, where he will be staying for a very long time. He will no longer have any control over me.”

She told the jury during the trial: “He’d always entice me and say: ‘Let’s listen to some music.’

“He would always put music on first, silly songs like: ‘I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts.’

All Shook Up: Horrix 

“He boasted about other females and said they had sex in the van and asked me if I was jealous, saying: ‘You’re not my only special girl.’

“He had his deejay equipment and mattress in the back of the van and porn and condoms.

“He’d get the porn magazines out and had these porn playing cards and make me look through the whole packet.”

Prosecutor Miss Corinne Bramwell said the first incident occurred in the toilet block near Horrix’s seaside caravan.

“He touched her chest and put his hand inside her knickers.

“He touched her and kissed her on the mouth and forced his tongue into her mouth when they were alone in the caravan.

“When she was alone in the van Mr. Horrix used that opportunity to sexually abuse her and she describes wanting to scream, but being too frightened to do so.”

He also encouraged the girl to wash his hair, added Miss Bramwell : “He’d splash water on her and suggest she took her top off and would touch her breasts.”

Horrix also forced her to give him oral sex, the jury were told. “She says she was scared and in fear during this period of her life.”

During the van rape he told her: “You’re a big girl now,” explained the prosecutor.

“He was rough, she says. Pulling her jeans down, pushing her legs apart and raping her.”

The second rape occurred in Horrix’s bathroom. “He forced her to straddle him and forced her down onto him.

“She says it was very painful.”

The woman reported Horrix to the police in March, 2015, explaining: “I wasn’t the only one it happened to. There could be a lot of other people out there.”

Today, Recorder Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC told Horrix, who maintains his innocence: “They are grave offences. You were an adult yet committed a range of sexual offences against a child, who was young and extremely vulnerable.

“She was a child who had her innocence stripped from her by your brutal actions and she has suffered severe psychological harm.”

Referring to the probation report on Horrix she added: “There is an entire lack of insight or sympathy and in the report there is an identification of future risk.”

Horrix, who shook his head in defiance during the hearing, says his partner has split with him and destroyed all his property, leaving him with nothing.

Recorder Bennett-Jenkins ordered Horrix to remain on licence an extra twelve months when he is released and made an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and Restraining Order.

Magician's Champagne Bottle Attack On Girlfriend

Champagne Bottle: Marcus Lewis

A magician and hypnotist hit his girlfriend with a champagne bottle and made her police crime number disappear by eating it when she tried to call the police.

Marcus Anthony Lewis, 30, and Catherine Mallett, 26, rowed about the volume of each other’s respective music and messaging friends and ex’s.

Lewis, of Kipling Avenue, Worthing was convicted of causing Catherine actual bodily harm at her Shepherd’s Bush flat on July 14, last year and assaulting her again on July 18.

He was bailed until April 13 for a pre-sentence report.

Lewis specialises in close-up magic and hypnosis and hires himself out as a professional ice-breaker for social events and is a youtube star for his street act.

The couple were together eight months and shared her flat in Frithville Gardens, but Catherine asked him to sleep elsewhere the night before the bottle assault.

“He did not like me messaging my friends and he had a message from his ex-girlfriend so we had a row about double standards,” she told Hammersmith Magistrates Court.

“He came back early and asked to talk, but I was going out and when I came back he put the latch on and essentially locked me out.”

"Agony": Catherine Mallett 

Lewis says he was forced to spend the night at a 24-hour internet cafe and denies locking Catherine out or blocking the door.

“I banged on the wall and he let me in, but kind of closed the door on me before I got in. He was trying to be aggravating.

“I pushed him out of the way and he pushed me onto the sofa and got on top of me and pinned me down and with a clenched fist threatened to punch me.

“I managed to push him off or he might have got off. There was a wine glass on the coffee table and I threw it and it hit the wall and broke, I was making him go away.

“I kicked a bin bag in frustration and rubbish fell out and he had my phone that had fallen out of my pocket.”

Lewis says she threw the bin bag at him and the champagne bottle inside it struck his knee.

“I said I’d chuck his headphones out the window if he didn’t give me my phone,” Catherine told the court.

“He’d picked the champagne bottle from the floor and hit my elbow with it and I was rolling around the floor in absolute agony.

“He said: ‘You’re faking, I didn’t hit you that hard,’ and then started filming me with my phone, saying I was mental.”

The court watched footage of a bloody Lewis filming Catherine as she held the stem of the broken wine glass.

He could be heard saying: “Stop trying to stab me with the f***ing glass.”

Catherine said: “I didn’t slash him with the glass. He was picking the broken glass up off the floor and cut his fingers.

“I was in a hell of a lot of pain, he broke my arm.”

Catherine went to hospital, where the elbow injury was treated as if it was a break, but this was never confirmed. 

Lewis says she hit him with a shoulder bag and he swung the champagne bottle to fend off her attack.

Four days later there was another row about Lewis’s behaviour and a tense atmosphere afterwards, Catherine told the court

“I was on my laptop not talking to him so he took it off me and threatened to smash it.

“He then played music on his phone, then blue toothed it and put the speaker in my face as I tried to play my music. I don’t like his music.”

Catherine grabbed her police letter from the earlier incident, which escalated the row.

“He jumped on top of me and clawed the paper out of my hand that had the crime number and left a huge scratch.

“He got the piece of paper out of my hand and ate it and I left and called the police.”

Lewis claimed she was “taunting” him with the crime number and making threats to call the police.

Inmate From Tough Prison Movie 'Starred Up' Accused Of Road Rage Clash With Cyclist

An ex-jailbird, who landed a part in brutal prison movie ’Starred Up’ has appeared in court accused of a road rage incident involving a cyclist.

Basil Abdul-Latif, 31, of Damorie House, Sandmere Road, Clapham claims to have turned his life around after leaving prison in 2009.

He was cast as inmate Mubarak in the 2013 film after meeting scriptwriter Jonathan Asser in HMP Wandsworth, who he credits with changing his life.

Abdul-Latif is charged with driving his white two-litre Mercedes-Benz E class dangerously in Beechcroft Road, Tooting on February 1.

Wimbledon Magistrates Court heard Abdul-Latif drove deliberately at the male cyclist, who tried to stop him.

He is said to have admitted to police he “lost control” and agreed it was an incident of ‘road rage.’

However, Abdul-Latif’s defence lawyer said his client takes issue with that account, denying he made contact with the cyclist or that he was guilty of ‘road rage.’

The magistrates bailed him to appear at Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court on April 19.  

NOT GUILTY: Morrisons Supermarket Manager Cleared Of Raping Member Of Staff

A Morrisons supermarket assistant manager has been cleared of twice raping a female staff member in his office, but will retried on a charge of molesting a checkout girl.

Yogesh Parmar, 38, invented reasons for the women to see him in the store’s office, where he closed the door behind them and pounced, the jury were told.

Parmar, of Glenavon Gardens, Slough denied and was unanimously found not guilty of two counts of raping the cash administrator at Morrisons, 113 Shepherd’s Bush Green in May and June, 2015. 

He also denied sexually assaulting the till operator the year before on November 1, 2014, but the jury failed to reach a verdict and he will return for another trial on April 24.

He told Isleworth Crown Court the rape complainant’s false allegations were made after he gave her a verbal warning and made her subject to internal disciplinary proceedings.

He said the second woman only lodged a complaint after he rebuffed her flirtatious advances and request for a lift home.

The rape complainant sadly died of cancer last year and the second woman no longer works at that particular store.

Prosecutor Mr. Richard Burrington told the jury: “He abused his position and took sexual advantage of two members of staff.

“The cash administrator asked the defendant to sign some paperwork and he asked her to come into his office and closed the door.

“He said he forgot how to perform a task on his computer and after she assisted and was leaving he stopped her and asked her to shut the door and come back.

“She did not want to and was right to be wary because this defendant unzipped his trousers and forced her down by the shoulders.”

The jury were told the woman was then raped by Parmar.

“When the ordeal was over she took herself to the toilets and says she felt horrible, but felt she could not talk to anyone.”

The following month Parmar complained she took too long a lunch break, explained Mr. Burrington.

“The defendant used this dispute to instruct her to come to the office.

“He told her he was going to punish her and what happened the month before was repeated.

“She was somewhat shellshocked and was worried people might not believe her.”

Eventually she reported Parmar to her manager and the police, who examined a similar complaint he was cleared of by bosses in 2014.

“This defendant was excessively tactile on many occasions and on this instance the till operator was invited into his office at 10pm.

“He closed the door and grabbed her and began molesting her, touching her all over,” said Mr. Burrington.

“He lifted her off her feet and tried forcefully to kiss her while gnashing his teeth.

“He put his hand over her shirt and pushed it down over her bra. She told him to stop, but was ignored.”

Parma was arrested and questioned, suggesting the women’s motivations to report him were questionable.

“He denied all the allegations and said the rape complainant was performing poorly and he had a stern word with her.

“It amounted to a verbal warning and he told her she would be subject to disciplinary proceedings and put on some sort of programme.

“He said it was the till operator that was always tactile and flirtatious with him.

“He said that night she touched his shoulder, pinched his cheek and asked for a lift home.

“Mr. Parmar suggested she fabricated her account because he refused to give her a lift home.”

Speeding BMW Driver Lied To Police

Court Date: O'Regan

A speeding BMW driver tried to duck justice by lying a woman was driving his car when it was caught on camera.

Leon O'Regan, 31, has previous convictions for drink-driving, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

He tried to find someone willing to take the blame for the offence before giving the woman's details and forging her signature.

Project manager O'Regan, of College Drive, Ruislip, who works for a civil engineering firm, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice on May 26, last year by providing false details to the police.

Prosecutor Mr. Bill McGivern told Isleworth Crown Court O'Regan's vehicle was caught on camera speeding at 45mph in Canterbury, Kent.

As the registered keeper he was written to, but claimed a woman in Pinner was driving the car at the time.

Checks were made and police found text exchanges between O'Regan and the woman and a handwriting expert confirmed she did not sign her signature.

O'Regan was questioned and confessed. “He had forged her signature and accepted he was the driver and said if she took the punishment he would sort her out.

“He asked a number of people before she took the punishment for him and he had three points on his licence at the time.

“The Crown does not say she was part of it and an aggravating feature is his persistence in trying to find someone to take the penalty points.”

O'Regan's lawyer Mr. James Kelly told the court: “It's a silly offence, pay the fine and it's only three points.”

O'Regan was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months and was disqualified from driving for nine months.

He was also fined £1,000, with £250 costs and ordered to attend fifteen sessions of a probation service-ordered thinking skills programme.

Suspended Sentence For Sleepover Groper

Court Date: Isleworth

A Burnley overnight guest, who got touchy-feely with a woman during a sleepover, has received a suspended prison sentence.

Gregorz Benedik, 37, of Angle Street was staying at an address in west London when he groped the female, who reported him to the police.

At Isleworth Crown Court he was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman on July 12, 2014 and yesterday was sentenced to sixteen months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

He was also placed on a twelve-month community order and must complete 150 hours community service work.

The court further ordered Benedik to sign the sex offenders register for seven years, pay £1,500 costs and he was made subject to a restraining order, prohibiting him contacting the victim.

Angry Boat Owner's Race-Row With Walbrook Rowing Club's Youth Coach

A boat owner shouted: “I’m going to knock your block off,” during a racially-charged confrontation with a rowing club coach on the banks of the Thames.

Pallbearer Douglas Pope, 69, said: “This is what happens when you let foreigners into the country,” during his row with the mixed-race youth rowing coach George Nottidge.

Pope, of Ardrossan Gardens, Worcester Park was convicted of racially-aggravated harassment in Trolock Way, Teddington on November 6.

At Wimbledon Magistrates Court he fought the charge, but was fined £450, with £625 costs and ordered to pay a £45 victim surcharge.

Pope was putting away his boat when he got into the row with members of Walbrook Rowing Club, who had a youth crew on the water with Mr. Nottidge following in a small motor launch.

It was 11.25am when Mr. Nottidge issued a loud warning shout towards a sailing boat entering the rowing crew’s line.

Pope shouted out: “Why don’t you try lowering your voice?”

He admitted the “knock your block off” threat, but says he was called a “white bastard” and had Mr. Nottidge “screaming” at him.

He said the “foreigner” comment was a reference to the victim’s unfamiliarity with waterway rules.

Mr. Nottidge told the court he was coaching 16-18 year-olds in five rowing boats when at least ten sailing boats entered their channel.

“I know of Mr Pope and he shouted very aggressively for me to lower my voice.

“He was very angry and there was thirty seconds of increasingly loud exchanges.

“I told him to try not to swear in front of all the kids.

“We had called the police in the past and were told to do it again if anything happened.

“He called me over to the bank to: ‘Knock my block off.’”