Legal Case Studies

A man who attacked a member of a group of worshippers who were praying outside a mosque has been jailed. On 3rd October 2025, Callum Mcinally, 29, of Waverley Road in Southsea, Portsmouth was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment after previously admitting the racially motivated crimes at his first hearing. The incident, which took place on 31 August at the Portsmouth Jami Mosque, saw Mcinally shouting verbal abuse whilst he approached a small group of men, women and children who were praying. After a man from the group asked Mcinally to leave them alone, Mcinally punched him to the chest, kicked a prayer mat and shouted racial abuse. Mcinally later returned and pulled out a knife, which he discarded and ran away once he heard police sirens. He received the following sentences for each offence all to be served concurrently:

• Racially / religiously aggravated common assault by beating - 4 months custody, concurrent (uplifted from community order for racial element)
• Assault by beating - No separate penalty
• Racially / religiously aggravated intentional harassment / alarm / distress - 4 months custody, concurrent (uplifted from community order for racial element)
• Threaten a person with a blade / sharply pointed article in a public place - 20 months custody.

Further information can be found here: https://www.cps.gov.uk/wessex/news/man-who-brought-knife-mosque-hate-crime-incident-jailed

A father and his two adult children have been imprisoned after being found guilty of inciting racial hatred through neo-Nazi music.

Robert Talland, 59, his daughter Rosie Talland, 34, and son Stephen Talland, 36, conspired to inspire racial hatred through the production and distribution of sound recordings.

A Neo-Nazi gig in 2019 at Leeds' Corpus Christi Catholic Club featured Nazi flags which were paraded on stage and the entire crowd, including children, performed the Nazi salute. Stephen and Rosie Talland were members of band and played at the event. They played racist songs, with references to a race war involving fighting, killing and riots.

Robert Talland ran 'Rampage Productions' a record label which produced and distributed music which encouraged terrorism and incited racial hatred. All three were found guilty of conspiracy to incite racial hatred at Woolwich Crown Court on June 26 and were sentenced on 11 September 2025.

Further information can be found here https://www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/neo-nazi-music-family-sentenced-stirring-racial-hatred

Harvey Wells, 20, Josh Campbell, 33, Jazmin Jones, 30, and James Desbois, 29 - all from Brentwood, Essex - were charged with racially aggravated criminal damage after they placed a severed pig's head outside three separate venues used for Muslim prayer activities. Next to the severed pigs' head at one venue were spray painted words stating, "No Mosques". At the other venue, the words "No Muslims here" had been spray painted. The discovery of these offending items on a Friday morning caused shock, horror and fear, including concerns for the security of those attending the venues which included children.

Crown prosecutor Louise Oakley emphasized that the crimes were "deliberate and motivated by religious hatred." The court sentenced Wells and Campbell to 32 months in prison, while Desbois received 25 months.

This case illustrates both the 'demonstration' as well as 'motivation' limb of a religiously aggravated hate crime.

A Muslim recruitment manager has successfully sued for religious harassment after he was told to take down a social media post accusing a fellow professional of being 'far right' in the wake of the Southport murders.

In August 2024, Abdalah Al-Abasi went on Linked In to warn his professional network not to work with a consultant who he felt had made offensive posts about Muslims which included: 'For over two decades Islamic grooming gangs have torched and raped tens of thousands of white British girls, in the name of religious and racist bigotry.' The same consultant had also posted inflammatory communications regarding Muslims and Islam including one post was by actor and right-wing activist Laurence Fox, and read 'Enough of this madness now, We need to permanently remove Islam from Great Britain. Completely and entirely'.

Mr Al-Abasi made a post on Linked in to warn others about the consultant and posted: 'For any Recruitment Consultant that is seeking Rec2Rec help to find a new role please do not work with this individual below if you feel uncomfortable reading the below. I would never engage in conversations with individuals who are ignorant however, I do feel it's imperative to highlight individual's ideology especially when it is so far right.'

When Mr Al-Abasi's bosses asked him to take his post down otherwise there would be consequences, he felt 'he was being silenced as a Muslim and as a human'. Mr Al-Abasi agreed to add a disclaimer at the top of the post saying that his comments didn't represent the views of his employer, which the tribunal considered a 'reasonable solution'. Mr Al-Abasi also removed the reference accusing the consultant of being 'far right'.

Employment Judge Richard Nicolle acknowledged that there may be circumstances where views expressed on social media may go beyond those which an employee could reasonably expect his employer to tolerate, he did not consider that Mr Al-Abasi had overstepped that mark. The tribunal found that Mr. Al-Abasi had 'grounds' for taking offence to the original LinkedIn post, ruling that his employers created an 'intimidating and hostile environment' by asking him to remove it.

The judge added: 'this finding was reached 'in the particular context of the febrile atmosphere which existed in the days after the Southport murders'.

Mr Al-Abasi will be compensated for injury to feelings.

Full story can be read here. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15029465/Muslim-recruitment-manager-wins-religious-harassment-tribunal.html

On Sunday August 11, Marcus Edwards, 44, was in Gillingham when he recorded the moment he smeared rashers of bacon on a mosque and claimed to people online that he would get away with it as the justice system would do nothing. In his online post, Edwards also threatened to "trash a mosque every day".

He was arrested and pleaded guilty at Medway Magistrates' Court on Thursday 15 August to two charges:

• Racially/religiously aggravated criminal damage
• Criminal damage

Edwards was sentenced to six months imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court, after the Crown Prosecution Service successfully applied for an uplifted sentence due to the hate crime element of his offending.

As this was a case of racially/religiously aggravated criminal damage, it was treated by the criminal justice system as a hate crime and given a sentencing uplift. Without the racially/religiously aggravated element of the crime, Edwards would not have received an immediate jail sentence

Bradley Halton, aged 28, who is a convicted drug dealer shouted 'vile and disgraceful' racist abuse during a violent protest,Enough is Enough' rally in Whitehall on July 31, organised by far-right leader Danny Tommo, real name Daniel Thomas. This was after the spread of misinformation about the identity of a knifeman accused of stabbing three schoolgirls in Southport on July 29.

There was organised chanting', including 'Who the f*k is Allah' and 'You're not English anymore', with spitting, swearing, and abuse directed towards police officers. Halton was part of this crowd, shouting 'Who the fk is Allah?', and, as seen on police bodycam footage, saying 'Where were you lot when the fking Pi c*ts were doing this? You were nowhere. Nowhere'.

Halton entered a guilty plea to an aggravated public order offence and was fined £400 which had been increased to reflect the hate crime element. He was also sentenced separately to 16 months imprisonment for an offence of Violent Disorder.

This case highlights how offensive chanting can be a criminal offence.

Jonathan Katan, 62 damaged two mosques, a cafe and the 'Palestine Mission to the UK' building by throwing and spraying red paint over the front doors and entrance ways to buildings, on eleven separate occasions during a single month. He committed these crimes over the course of a month between October and November 2023.

On each occasion, the defendant was not heard to utter any words, however, as the buildings were either owned and/ or occupied by members of the Muslim community, the prosecution argued that the court could infer that the defendant's motive for causing damage to these specific premises, was motivated by hostility towards Muslims.

The defendant pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated criminal damage and at his sentencing hearing, the prosecution placed before the court, community impact and victim impact statements to illustrate the personal and wider impact that the defendant's crimes had had on the community.

At Uxbridge Magistrates' Court (8 August 2024), Katan was sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work and 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days. Katan was also ordered to pay compensation of £2650 to the victims.

This case illustrates the 'demonstration of hostility' limb of a religiously aggravated hate crime.

Terry Eury, 56, pleaded guilty to two religiously aggravated public order offences at Thames Magistrates' Court and was sentenced today (21 May 2024) to 12 weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to undertake a three-month alcohol treatment programme and complete 35 rehabilitation activity days as part of his Community Order.

The defendant had targeted two Muslim women as they returned from a pro-Palestine protest in April 2024, shouting a torrent of Islamophobic language that lasted about two minutes, as he pursued them through the High Street.

The frightening encounter was video recorded by a member of the public on a mobile phone, which captured the full extent of Eury's criminal behaviour in the middle of the busy High Street. He called them Muslim c**, s**, traitors. He also told them to f*** off to a Muslim country, as he pursued them along the Street. The frightening encounter was video recorded by a member of the public on a mobile phone, which captured the full extent of Eury's criminal behaviour.

This case illustrates the 'demonstration of hostility' limb of a religiously aggravated hate crime.

On 19 October 2023, the 49-year-old Birmingham man, who was drunk, approached two people who were sitting in a car and repeatedly directed anti-Muslim hate towards them and then threatened to assault one of them. He then drove off in a car before being arrested. He was charged with racist and religiously aggravated assaults and drink driving and was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on 2 April 2024. He received a community order which had been increased to reflect the hate crime and was disqualified from driving for two years. He was also ordered to pay compensation to the victim.

Further information can be found on the West Midlands CPS website

Paul Bussetti, 49 attended a bonfire night party at the home of his friend where there were about thirty people present. Some of them brought items to burn including effigies. One of those was a tall structure in flammable material depicting Grenfell Tower.

This effigy had six cut out figures which depicted a person wearing a hijab looking out of the upper floors of the 'tower'. The defendant took a video on his mobile phone, of the burning of this effigy on the bonfire and later that evening sent the video to two WhatsApp groups. The video was shared on social media and attracted attention in a national newspaper and on television.

The defendant was charged with sending a grossly offensive message by means of a public electronic communications network, contrary to s.127(1) of the Communications Act 2003. At trial, he was initially found not guilty at a Magistrates Court trial, as the court stated that it could not be sure that the video posted on social media was from the defendant.

The Crown Prosecution Service appealed to the High Court against the finding, and the High Court agreed with the prosecution and quashed the defendant's acquittal. The defendant then changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to a suspended 10 weeks imprisonment with 120 hours of unpaid work.

This case highlights how the use of electronic communications content can be grossly offensive due to its religiously aggravated nature.

A Shia Muslim has been jailed for three years and nine months for vandalism attacks on five mosques in Birmingham. Arman Rezazadeh, who is of Iranian descent, used a sledgehammer to smash windows and doors in Perry Barr, Aston and Erdington on 21 March 2019. He was convicted of five offences of criminal damage to property. The 34-year-old admitted religiously aggravated criminal damage.

Judge Michael Chambers QC said Rezazadeh had been "motivated by religious hatred" and all the mosques he attacked were used by Sunni Muslims. Passing sentence, Judge Chambers said the offending was "planned and premeditated ...."The harm in this case has been extremely substantial - the impact on the local and wider Muslim community has been huge."

This case illustrates how the court takes into account, the wider impact of a hate crime on the rest of the community when passing sentence and also that religious hatred can occur within the same faith based communities.