Judge rules hooligan’s attack on left-wing writer was hate crime
A CONVICTED football hooligan launched an unprovoked attack on Guardian columnist and left-wing activist Owen Jones because of his sexuality and political views, a judge has ruled.
James Healy, 40, admitted assaulting Mr Jones outside a pub in August last year, but claimed he “had the hump” because the victim had bumped into him and spilled his drink. But the Chelsea FC fan – who has a string of convictions for football-related violence – denied being motivated by Mr Jones sexuality or political campaigning, claiming he didn’t even know who he was.
Assaults deemed to be hate crimes can attract significantly longer sentences from the courts.
Following his arrest, a search of Healy’s home found a number of items connected to far-right ideology including a collection of pin badges linked to white supremacist groups.
Following a two-day hearing to determine Healy’s motive, Recorder Judge Anne Studd QC ruled on Friday that the unprovoked attack could only be motivated by Mr Jones’s media profile as a left-wing polemicist.
She said Healy had “plenty of opportunity to remonstrate” with Mr Jones in the pub if he had unwittingly spilled his drink, and made no attempt to do so.
She continued: “I don’t find that this was motivated by a drink spillage – this was a brutal, surprise assault with no warning whatsoever. It was clearly targeted.”
The defendant pleaded guilty to affray and assault occasioning actual bodily harm at a previous hearing.
Healy’s co-defendants Charlie Ambrose, 30, from Brighton, and Liam Tracey, 34, from Camden, who have previously pleaded guilty to affray over the incident, are due to be sentence on February 11. Ambrose and Tracey previously both denied a charge of occasioning actual bodily harm and the charge was left to lie on file, with prosecutors accepting their actions were not motivated by homophobia.
A date for Healy’s sentencing has yet to be set.