Man who committed racial hate crimes against women in Northamptonshire given community order

Cyril Walton, 47, of Greenwood Road, Northampton, was arrested last year after he committed the offences against the women near his home in St James.

On 17 October, 2015, the victims had gone to visit a friend whose relative had died. After leaving the address, Walton confronted the women, hurling abuse at them and attacking two of the women.

Walton pleaded not guilty to the offences, forcing the victims to give evidence in court.

However he was found guilty at Corby Magistrates’ Court of two counts of assault, a racially aggravated public order offence and criminal damage. He has now been sentenced to a 12-month community order during which he must carry out 150 hours of unpaid community work and complete a 20-day rehabilitation programme.

He was also ordered to pay £200 compensation for the aggravated assault, £100 for the common assault and £100 for the criminal damage. He was further ordered to pay £400 costs.

Zahira Case, Chair of Pearls of Peace, a community group that offers services to local people and helped to support the victims, said: “Working in the community, especially with women who do not speak English as a first language, I often come across cases where they have been racially abused, but are too vulnerable to report it.

“The fact that this man has been convicted is a big achievement for all concerned and I would personally like to say well done to the women who were courageous enough to give evidence in court. This will hopefully encourage other people to report incidents of hate crime to the police.”

DC Rachel Packman, Community Engagement Officer, said: “For many reasons hate crimes are often not reported to the Police. The victims in this case bravely chose to report this crime and to give evidence in court. This has resulted in a conviction that gives a clear message to the offender and to the whole community that hate crime will not be tolerated.”