Man sentenced for racially abusing a traffic warden.
A man who subjected a traffic warden to a torrent of racist abuse in Chester has been sentenced.
Chester Magistrates Court heard that Mark Winstanley, who’s 36 and from Chester, hurled abuse at a traffic warden in Faulkner Street in the city on 19 March this year.
The warden was about to issue him with a parking ticket as his black BMW car was parked on double yellow lines. Winstanley hurled a series of racist insults at him before he eventually drove away.
But then he came back a short time later and continued to abuse the warden. After the incident, he was traced by police and was arrested when he attended Blacon police station.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Simon Pover said: “The whole shocking incident was caught on the traffic warden’s body camera. This was vital evidence in the case and probably led Winstanley to plead guilty to the charges at an early opportunity.
“When the traffic warden approached him on that day, Winstanley was parked on double yellow lines had no insurance and no driving licence, driving offences for which he was also charged and to which he also pleaded guilty.
“The traffic warden was simply doing his job on that day but suffered a series of racist insults as a result.
“The Crown Prosecution Service prosecuted this case as racially aggravated hate crime and the sentence was increased to take account of that element of the offending.
““When we can prove to a court that a case is a hate crime, we will ask for an uplifted sentence to reflect the serious impact on the entire community of such offending.
“Winstanley must do 200 hours of community work, he must pay the victim £100 compensation, he’s banned from driving for 6 months and 6 points have been added to his licence.”
CheshireWest and Chester City Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Karen Shore said: “In most cases, the use of bodycams prevents incidents like this because people modify their behaviour when they know they are being filmed. But when that doesn’t happen, the bodycam footage provides valuable evidence that can be used in prosecutions such as this, which will hopefully also serve as a deterrent to others.”
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