Twisted thug caged for sickening act
BY CONNOR GORDON A THUG who spat on a priest as an Orange walk marched past a church was yesterday jailed for 10 months.
Bigot Bradley Wallace, 24, assaulted Father Thomas White when he was unable to get back inside St Alphonsus Church on London Road in Glasgow as hundreds of parishioners were leaving.
Police took the vestment worn by Father White at the time for forensic analysis.
Weeks later, a DNA match to Wallace was found with the saliva found on the back of his vestment.
Officers also found Wallace’s Facebook page, with images of him holding up a White Ensign with a Union Flag in the corner and the words “Bridgeton Loyal” emblazoned on it.
Father White welcomed the sentence and said he was “encouraged” Wallace had shown remorse but added there was a wider issue.
He said: “The conviction of one man for one spittle does not reflect or begin to address what happened last July. My parishioners and I were spat at and shouted at by a mob. The memory of some of my frailest and most vulnerable parishioners fleeing their church is one that will abide with me for a long time.
“I am saddened already there are clear signals that a new marching season has arrived and it is back to business as usual.”
Wallace, of Uddingston, near Glasgow, pled guilty last month at Glasgow Sheriff Court to the assault on July 7 last year.
Passing sentence, Sheriff Andrew Cubie told him: “How does a 24-year-old not know how to behave? You took the decision to spit on a priest.
“It is disgusting and was designed to humiliate him and others around him and this incident is motivated by religious prejudice.
“A custodial sentence is unavoidable here. It is a travesty a clergyman is seeking safety in his own church.
“This isn’t about any indifference about people celebrating their traditions, this is about the troubling issue of sectarianism.”
The court heard the attack happened outside St Alphonsus Church after marchers shouted “Fenian b ****** ”, “Fenian scum”, “beast” and “paedophile” at Father White and his parishioners.
It was heard that some of the marchers began “to spit towards them” and Wallace, who was among the group, spat on Father White’s back.
Father White later gave a statement to police about what had happened.