Man found guilty of attacking three Jewish people in north London
A man has been found guilty of carrying out antisemitic attacks on three Jews in north London
Abdullah Quershi's targets included a 14 year old boy on his way to school, a 64 year old man who was knocked out as he made his way to the synagogue and a teacher.
The 30 year old, who travelled from West Yorkshire, carried out the attacks in a two-hour period in August last year in Stamford Hill.
Qureshi claimed "it was just a coincidence" his three victims were all wearing traditional orthodox Jewish clothing and said he lashed out after becoming "angrier and angrier" following a row in a shop.
But prosecutor Varinder Hayre suggested to Qureshi he travelled from his home in Dewsbury to target Jews because "you hate them".
Following a trial at Stratford Magistrates' Court in east London, District Judge John Law on Thursday found Qureshi guilty of inflicting religiously aggravated grievous bodily harm and two counts of religiously aggravated assault by beating.
"The three complainants not only were orthodox Jews but were clearly identifiable as such," said the judge.
"I am drawn to the inescapable conclusion that their selection by this defendant was not a coincidence."
Mr Law committed the case to Snaresbrook Crown Court for sentencing on December 8, granting Qureshi bail on the condition he does not enter the London borough of Hackney.
Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Yasmin Lalani said: "We will not tolerate hate crime of any form in London.
"The Met has a zero-tolerance policy for hate crime.
"We want to build safe and strong communities where people say no to hate crime."
A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: "This verdict begins to redress the serious harm caused to his victims and we expect the court to impose a sentence appropriate to the severity of his awful crimes.
"Today's verdict also vindicates efforts made by Campaign Against Antisemitism, Shomrim and others to pressure the CPS into reinstating the aggravated charges after they were initially dropped.
"The CPS claimed that it did not have sufficient evidence to make out the antisemitic element of the crimes, but we disagreed and the court has now in effect found that we were right to do so.
"We are grateful to the CPS for making the case forcefully in court today and bringing about this outcome."
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