Bias Motive |
Groups |
Key facts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Court of Appeal | 2019 | United Kingdom / R v Bitton (David) [2019] EWCA Crim 1372 | Race/Ethnicity, Religion, Migrant status | Muslims, Migrants, Refugees & asylum seekers, EU citizens & nationals with migrant background, Third country nationals, Foreigners, Black people or of African origin, Other religious groups | In May 2016, the month leading up to referendum on leaving the European Union, the appellant had published 86 messages on his public Twitter account that contained offensive and inappropriate terms and which expressed pro-Brexit, Islamophobic, anti-immigration, Anti-Semitic and racist sentiments. Examples of such tweets are as follows: "That's right. When we blow up 50 mosques you will soon get in your smelly houses and shut your curry breath mouth."; "Stay in the EU. Will… | View more |
| United Kingdom | High Court | 2019 | United Kingdom / Her Majesty's Attorney General v Yaxley-Lennon [2019] EWHC 1791 (QB) | Religion | Muslims | The case relates to actions amounting to contempt of court by the respondent. Stephen Yaxley-Lennon also known as Tommy Robinson, a prominent far-right and anti-Islam activist and co-founder of the English Defence League. On 25 May 2018, whilst on a suspended sentence for breaching reporting restrictions, the respondent recorded a Facebook live post outside Leeds Crown Court which made reference to various details of a live trial that was subject to a reporting postponement order. During the… | View more |
| United Kingdom | Crown Court | 2018 | United Kingdom / R v Darren Osborne | Religion | Muslims | On 17 June 2017, the defendant, Darren Osborne, hired a van and drove it from Cardiff to London with the Al Quds Day march as target where he intended to “plough through as many of them as possible”. Unable to reach his initial target, the defendant drove around London until he reached the area around Finsbury Park Mosque. It was the month of Ramadan and many mosque attendees were on the streets having broken their fasts. The defendant identified a group of individuals, many of whom were in… | View more |
| United Kingdom | Magistrates Court | 2018 | United Kingdom / R v Fransen and Golding | Religion | Muslims | The defendants in this case were Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, the leader and deputy-leader (respectively) of far-right group, Britain First. In May 2017, as four Muslim men stood trial for the gang rape of a 16 year girl in Kent, the defendants distributed leaflets and posted videos of themselves aggressively confronting people they believed to be the men on trial and targeting what they believed to be their homes. The videos were posted on Britain First’s website and Facebook page and… | View more |
| United Kingdom | Blackfriars Crown Court | 2017 | United Kingdon / R v Pelham Case no. U20170377/T20170114 … | Religion | Muslims | The defendant posted a number of hateful posts of Facebook including comments such as, ‘what this country needs is a bomb a mosque day’ and ‘we must burn mosques to the ground’. | View more |
| United Kingdom | Magistrates Court | 2017 | United Kingdom / R v Viscount St Davids | Race/Ethnicity, Race/Ethnicity, Nationality, Migrant status | Migrants, Third country nationals, Foreigners, Black people or of African origin | This case concerned two Facebook posts written by Lord St Davids, a British Aristocrat. Owing to the nature of the posts Lord St Davids was prosecuted for sending menacing electronic communications under the Communications Act 2003. The posts targeted two individuals. The first, Gina Miller, is a business woman who led a legal action against the British government to prevent the exit of the European Union without parliamentary approval. The post contained a photograph of Mrs Miller at a debate… | View more |
| United Kingdom | England and Wales High Court | 2016 | United Kingdom / England and Wales High Court / EWHC 464 (Admin) / Henderson v. Crown Prosecution Service | Race/Ethnicity, Religion | Muslims, Migrants, Refugees & asylum seekers, EU citizens & nationals with migrant background, Third country nationals, Foreigners, Black people or of African origin, Other religious groups | The appellant had been convicted for three offences of harassment and for three offences of racially aggravated harassment. Both sets of convictions concerned the same victims and arose from the same facts but the two offences had been characterised as alternatives. Despite having been found guilty of the underlying offences the court imposed no separate penalty for them. | View more |
| United Kingdom | England and Wales Court of Appeal | 2016 | United Kingdom / Attorney General's Reference (Nos 143 and 144 of 2015) EWCA Crim 21 | Religion | Muslims | Two offenders pleaded guilty to offences of religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress and received suspended sentences with rehabilitation activity requirements. Whilst intoxicated in a park the offenders had verbally abused a Muslim family whilst they prayed with statements such as, “If those Muslim c*nts start to pray, I’m going to p*ss in front of them. They better face north or they’re not real Muslims.” They then proceeded to urinate within two metres of the family… | View more |
| United Kingdom | United Kingdom Supreme Court | 2016 | United Kingdom / Joint appeals of Taiwo (Appellant) v. Olaigbe and another (Respondents) and Onu (Appellant) v. Akwiwu and another (Respondents) [2016] UKSC 31 | Nationality, Race/Ethnicity | Migrants | The two appellants, Ms Taiwo and Ms Omu, are both Nigerian nationals who came to work in the UK on domestic work visas. They were both forced to work excessive hours and severely mistreated by their employers, including being starved and physically and mentally abused. Both appellants claimed to have been discriminated against owing to their immigration status. | View more |
| United Kingdom | United Kingdom Supreme Court | 2016 |
United Kingdom / (Court of Appeal) Onu v. Akiwu and another [2014] EWCA Civ 279 |
Nationality | Migrants, Black people or of African origin | The claimants were Nigerian women who came to the United Kingdom on migrant domestic worker visas to work as domestic servants. They were treated badly by their employers, many of their employment rights were denied and they were subjected to abuse and exploitation. They brought proceedings in the Employment Tribunal for, among others, racial discrimination, harassment and victimisation. The issue for the Court of Appeal was whether discrimination against an employee because he or she is a… | View more |
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