In a landmark High Court ruling this week, a convicted burglar was deemed to have suffered damaging verbal abuse – now classed as a hate crime – by the householder he had burgled.
Danny Pritt (29) of Potter’s Lane, Dartford had been found guilty in July of breaking into the detached Kent home of retired naval officer Captain Oliver Wagstaff CBE. Mr Pritt was given 30 days community service for the offence, his eighteenth conviction for burglary.
The intruder was disturbed by the 89 year old Captain, naked except for his ceremonial sword, and chased from the house. Mr Pritt later reported the Captain to the police for having used ‘foul and upsetting language’ on him.
He told the High Court that Captain Wagstaff had run at him screaming “Eff off you thieving, fat bastard!” Mr Pritt claimed that the abuse undid years of treatment he had been receiving for ultra-sensitivity over his body shape, for which he was bullied at school. He agreed with the Captain’s counsel that he weighed 22 stone.
The court found in Mr Pritt’s favour, awarding him exceptional damages of £13,000 towards a continuing course of PTSD therapy.
Captain Wagstaff was given a three year suspended sentence for hate crime and must pay the damages, plus both party’s legal costs, estimated at £185,000. He will be placed on the National Hate Crime Register for life and must surrender his sword. Judge Ulysses Waddington closed with the comment: ‘Society will not tolerate this egregious and growing disease of hate crime. Let this be a lesson to everyone.’
This is remarkable and totally unexpected additional reporting on these events. Without such public-spirited collaboration, Spoofflé simply could not function. Good show, keep it up Mr Take. And keep the comments coming too.
Only to HAPPY to be of service
Quite right that Captain Wagstaff should be severely reprimanded for such a derogatory remark about this poor youngster. The full story needs to be told. This poor young man has suffered to much already. Since his 17th offence he has completely changed his way of life. He has recently gone through the traumatic experience of a gastro band operation where40 stone was removed and is now on a restricted diet of a maximum of 10 double whoppa burgers and 6 litres of diet coke a day. He says he has turned a corner and is really trying to lose weight. “I feewl much fitter now, and can run faster than them bleedin rozzers”. He said to the Spoofle reporter. When asked about his 17th offence he said “I should have thought that out a bit better I ram raided the local Sainsbury’s AMT very successfully. I knocked it out of the wall but couldn’t get my arms round it to get it away. Next time I will use a vehicle. Any way when the Captain called me fat I was completely traumatised and when I saw the size of his weapon I became like a quivering jelly, no wonder the rozzers caught me”.