[2006] EWHC 1202 (Admin)

A conviction for the offence of using threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour contrary to the Public Order Act 1986 s.5(1)(a) required evidence of someone able to hear or see the defendant's conduct, not necessarily evidence of someone actually hearing the words spoken or seeing the behaviour, and in the context of the case, the use of racist comments must have led any judge to find that the s.5 offence was motivated, at least in part, by racial hostility contrary to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 s.31(1)(c) .

DC (Keene LJ, Jack J)

28/04/2006