Abusive Herefordshire man in court after "homophobic hate crime"

Andrew Jones entered a guilty plea to one count of using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm, or distress when he appeared before magistrates in Hereford in March.

"This was a homophobic hate crime," prosecutor Eleanor Peart said, telling the court that police had come across Jones at 10.30pm on December 7, having been called to an incident on which no further action was taken.

Jones had been shouting and swearing in a residential estate, the court heard.

He was warned to stop, but instead asked one officer, who was wearing an LGBTQ+ lanyard, why he was shaking and called him a "poofter".

The officer, who is a gay man, said he felt this was targeted abuse and that is was unacceptable and unjustifiable.

Marilena Di Vitantonio, for Jones, said that the 21-year-old had apologised to the officer in interview and that he had been "extremely drunk" at the time.

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"There had been an incident and he was in the street and upset," she said.

"That is no excuse, but he tells me that he did not actually realise that the officer was gay and that it was just a comment that was made among lots of others."

The court heard Jones, who is from a travelling background and who is currently not in work, is well aware of the abuse levelled at certain members of society and did not want to cause harm.

Jones, of Ruskin Avenue, Ledbury, was fined £120 for the offence and ordered to pay compensation of £100.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £135 and a £48 victim surcharge.