Abbott remarks ‘could be considered a hate crime’
The Conservative donor Frank Hester’s alleged comment that Diane Abbott “should be shot” could pass the bar for legal proceedings, lawyers have said.
Yasin Patel, a barrister specialising in criminal law, told i that the remark could, in certain circumstances, be perceived as a hate crime, which is covered by the Crime Disorder Act 1998 and the Sentencing Act 2020.
A person can be prosecuted for the offence if it can be proven they were motivated to be hostile and prejudicial against someone because of several factors including their race or sexual orientation.
Mr Patel said: “When someone says a person needs to be shot, those are quite strong remarks.
“When someone says, ‘I want to hate all black women because of her’ – he is prejudicing against the whole race. He has abused her and he has done it in front of other witnesses.
“His remarks could arguably be considered as a hate crime.”
Sailesh Mehta, a barrister and a founding member of the Bar Human Rights Committee, pointed out that Part III of the Public Order Act 1986 makes it a criminal offence to use threatening, abusive or insulting words, either with the intention to stir up racial hatred, or if racial hatred is likely to be stirred up.
Mr Mehta said he believed that “after looking at the circumstances of the case, it is likely that the words used may be considered to stir up racial hatred”.
Offences under this section of the Public Order Act carry a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment or a fine, or both.
Ms Abbott has described the remarks as “frightening” and “alarming” given that two MPs – Jo Cox and Sir David Amess – have been murdered in recent years.
Mr Hester is the chief executive of the healthcare software firm The Phoenix Partnership (TPP), which has said that he “abhors racism, not least because he experienced it as the child of Irish immigrants in the 1970s”. He denies being racist and has apologised to Ms Abbott.
TPP added that Mr Hester “wishes to make it clear that he regards racism as a poison that has no place in public life”.