Trump fan said he’d ‘stab anyone’ who didn’t like the US president
QUALITY CONTROL INSPECTOR IN COURT OVER ‘ABHORRENT’ ABUSE TO EMBARRASS EX-GIRLFRIEND
A MAN has been convicted of race-hate crimes for a string of attempts to embarrass his ex-girlfriend with rightwing rhetoric – including drunkenly ranting about Donald Trump in a pub.
Christopher Sambrook, 29, sported a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat and shouted support for the US president in front of Catherine Bell as she was toasting a friend’s move to America.
During a three-year campaign, Sambrook, a quality control inspector who knew Miss Bell did not like Trump, posted a series of offensive messages on Facebook saying he would ‘stab anyone’ who didn’t like the American leader.
He also made comments about the Ku Klux Klan and cracked racist jokes on social media equating the Christmas Black Friday sales to a picture of an 18th Century slave ship.
Police warned Sambrook about his conduct but he was arrested last year after turning on the transgender sister of Miss Bell’s new partner, sending a homophobic message on WhatsApp saying: ‘Let the tranny brothers burn.’
In a victim personal statement, Miss Bell said: “I’m worried for myself and my family that he will carry out the contents of his messages.
“This has affected me a lot and I don’t want to continue living like this. I am worried about his future actions.”
At Manchester magistrates court, Sambrook, an IT university graduate who lives in Sale, was warned he faced jail after he admitted racially-aggravated harassment.
However, his 12-week prison term was suspended for 18 months after he apologised for his conduct.
He was banned from contacting Miss Bell for two years under the terms of a restraining order. The court heard Miss Bell had been in a relationship with Sambrook for a year but the pair separated in 2012 – although they remained in the same friendship group.
Beth Pilling, prosecuting, said: “She describes an escalation of his behaviour after she got into another relationship with another man.
“This behaviour stems from group contact on a social networking site, essentially all friends and parties were in a friend group chat.
“That was taken advantage of by the defendant to use as a platform to target the victim in a racial, humiliating and sexual manner. She received continuous unwanted contact from him, in the form of texts, phone calls, over social media and in person.
“She was wanting to forgive him in the beginning, but as the matter progressed, she couldn’t forgive him. She says she thought it was wrong, upsetting and told him to stop.”
Gavin Clarke, defending, said: “He is under no illusion as to what he’s done is wholly wrong.
“He admitted everything from the moment he was arrested by the police, he gave full and frank admissions during the interview.
“To quote what he told the officers at the end, he said ‘I’m very very sorry, if I could change things I would, it was abhorrent behaviour.’”
He added: “He’s shown genuine remorse and this behaviour is something that will not be repeated.”
Sentencing Sambrook, magistrate Jo Hossle-Standring told him: “We do feel this offence crosses the custodial threshold, but we feel we can suspend the sentence.”
Sambrook was also ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work and £200 court costs.