Racist attack in Lynn street was nasty
ONE man has been jailed and another given a suspended prison term for a racist street attack on two Lithuanians.
Owen Wright and Nigel Burlingham told the men to get back to their own country before punching them to the ground, West Norfolk Magistrates’ Court, in Lynn, heard on Wednesday.
The pair both denied racially aggravated assault but were found guilty after a trial at the court on January 20.
Susanna Chowdhury, prosecuting, said the victims were loading a stereo into a car in Lynn when their attackers approached.
She said the men were asked: “What are you doing in our country? Go back to where you came from,” before being set upon, in the attack in May last year.
She said Burlingham punched one of the men to the ground, who was kicked in the leg while he lay there and Wright punched the other man twice. One man was left with reddening to his cheek while the other had a lump on his head and grazed leg.
Ruth Johnson, mitigating, said both men continued to deny the attack was racially aggravated.
Wright, 30, of Queens Avenue, South Lynn, had similar convictions of a racially-aggravated nature, which a probation officer said could “perhaps demonstrate a pattern of behaviour”, the court heard.
He was handed a six-month jail sentence. Michael Gamble, chairman of the magistrates’ bench, said Wright had to face an immediate custodial sentence because of his list of previous convictions and failure to work with the probation service.
Burlingham, 27, of Station Road, North Wootton, was given four months in prison, plus one month for committing an offence whilst subject to a conditional discharge, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete a 10-day alcohol specified activity, 80 hours’ unpaid work and pay £50 compensation.
Mr Gamble said: “We feel you had a part to play in a nasty attack though you perhaps took a secondary role in it. Your antecedence and relationship with the probation service is different.”
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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