By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 13:52, Monday, 20 August 2012

A racist ex-soldier got more than he bargained for when he confronted a man he thought was a Pakistani in Workington town centre, a court heard.

Shane Collier, 27, went up to Maudi Ashori-Demochali – who is Iranian – and shouted abuse and spat in his face. But Mr Ashori-Demochali pushed him away and – when Collier continued his racist rant – started fighting with him.

Mr Ashori-Demochali was later given a police caution for kicking Collier in the head.

But at Carlisle Crown Court Collier, who had two previous convictions for racist behaviour, was given a suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of a racially aggravated common assault.

Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told the court the incident happened on the afternoon of September 19 last year when Mr Ashori-Demochali was out shopping with his heavily pregnant wife and their 18-month-old child.

Collier, of Senhouse Street, Maryport, started taunting them and shouting. He spat in Mr Ashori-Demochali’s face when he challenged him about the way he was behaving.

Mr Ashori-Demochali then pushed Collier away, which led to the racist lout grabbing him. The two men started struggling together and both ended up on the ground, with Mrs Ashori-Demochali trying to separate them, Mr Rogerson said.

The incident ended when Mr Ashori-Demochali took a kick at Collier’s head – the act for which he later accepted a formal caution from the police.

Collier pleaded not guilty to racially aggravated common assault but was convicted after a trial last month.

In mitigation defence barrister Rod Halligan admitted that Collier had a bad record, which included two convictions for shouting racist abuse and spitting at a Turkish takeaway.

He said he had had a “dysfunctional upbringing” which had made him unable to cope with the spells of homelessness and unemployment that followed his time in the army.

“He has accepted that in the past he has held openly racist views – adopted, it must be said, when he was very young,” Mr Halligan said.

Collier was given a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and given 12 months supervision by probation officers.

He was also ordered to do 100 hours unpaid community work and put under a curfew to keep him indoors at his home every night for the next month.

The judge, Recorder John Corless, told him that even though he came off worse it was his own fault because he started it.

“Individuals should be able to walk with their families through the centre of our towns without being subjected to any form of abuse,” he said.

First published at 11:24, Monday, 20 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk