‘Go back to your country’ – handcuffed Hartlepool man hurled vile abuse at police officer

A police officer was left “upset and humiliated” after being racially abused by a Hartlepool man who told him to “go back to your country”.
The case was heard at Teesside Magistrates' Court.The case was heard at Teesside Magistrates' Court.
The case was heard at Teesside Magistrates' Court.

Irate Jonathan Kay had already been arrested and put in handcuffs when he decided to start hurling racist abuse at PC Rashad last month.

Kay, 27, of York Road in Hartlepool, appeared at Teesside Magistrates’ Court to be sentenced for the offence of racially aggravated harassment.

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He pleaded guilty to the charge, which stems from an incident on May 16 at his home in Hartlepool.

In mitigation, the court heard Kay has ‘no social life’ and ‘doesn’t think of himself as being racist at all’.

Prosecutor Lesley Burgess told the court: “PC Rashad details attending an incidident of an apparently domestic nature which was ongoing in the early hours of the morning.

“He speaks to a female who says that she does not want her partner any longer in the property.”

She told them that he was not welcome there anymore.

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Officers spoke to her boyfriend – Jonathan Kay – who became ‘abusive and irate’, the prosecutor said.

Kay swore at PC Rashad and told him ‘go back to your [expletive] country’.

In a statement PC Rashad said the abuse left him feeling ‘upset and humiliated’.

He added: “As an ethnic minority police officer with brown skin I feel deeply offended by the remarks.

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“I did not feel his comments or behaviour were provoked in any way by me.”

The court heard from a probation officer that Kay suffers with mental health problems and with alcohol.

He claimed it was ‘out of character’ and that he is ‘deeply ashamed’ of his actions.

Kay – who has debts of over £10,000 – told probation that he has ‘no social life’ and ‘doesn’t think of himself as being racist at all’.

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The court heard that there was no indication that he has ever been violent towards his partner, for whom he is a carer.

District judge Helen Cousins congratulated Kay for seeking help with his alcohol problems.

She sentenced him to a community order and ordered him to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £85.