Surrey man sentenced over religious harassment of Police officer
The incident happened at the Henley Royal Regatta in 2019
A man from Surrey has been sentenced to a community order after he was convicted of religiously aggravated intentional harassment or distress towards a Thames Valley Police officer in Henley
29 year-old Thomas Frankham of Lydia Park in Cranleigh was convicted on Wednesday (17 February).
He was sentenced to a community order for 12 months and prohibited from attending a premises where alcohol is served.
He was also made subject to a four-month monitoring requirement and ordered to attend an anger management programme for ten days and pay £500 compensation to his victim and £1,000 in costs.
Between 4am and 6am on 5 July 2019, during the Henley Royal Regatta, Frankham racially abused PC Ali, making abusive references to his race and perceived religion.
In a trial lasting one day at Oxford Crown Court, Frankham was convicted of the offence.
Investigating officer PC Ryan Dollery, based at Abingdon police station, said:
“I am pleased that the court saw fit to convict Frankham of this offence.
“Police officers should be able to go about their day to day work without being subjected to any kind of abuse, and this type of behaviour is completely unacceptable.
“I think that this sentence shows that racial and religious abuse towards police officers, or indeed a member of the public, will not be tolerated, and we will bring offenders to justice in all cases.
“I hope that the sanctions handed out by the court will enable Frankham to think about the consequences of his actions, and these will not be repeated.”