Redbridge mosque attackers jailed by judge

Four thugs who smashed up a Redbridge mosque before hurling a brick at the imam have been jailed for a total of 12-and-a-half years today.

The gang shattered the windows of Redbridge Islamic Centre, Eastern Avenue, before trying to storm their way inside while taunting worshippers with sickening chants.

Rocky Beale, 19, of Purleigh Avenue, Woodford Green and Eliot Jones, 19, of Keswick Gardens, Redbridge, pelted the centre with bricks, along with 18-year-old Matthew Stephenson, of Burrow Road, Hainault.

Harry Deluca, 16, whose name can now be revealed after an order was lifted by the judge, also pelted the centre and repeatedly screamed “EDL” throughout the assault on March 24.

All four denied violent disorder but were convicted by a jury last month after just 90 minutes of deliberation.

Judge Timothy King sentenced Beale, Jones and Stephenson to three-and-a-half years each in a young offenders’ institution during yesterday’s (Wednesday’s) hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Deluca, of Manford Way, Hainault was given a two-year detention and training order.

The judge told them: “It is difficult, it seems to me, to imagine a case of violent disorder more serious than this one.”

Cllr Shoaib Patel, cabinet member for community safety on Redbridge Council, told the Recorder: “I am delighted with the result and it is great news for all the people that suffered because of the attack.

“It shows that Redbridge will not tolerate racial abuse after the community has worked hard to promote strong cohesion.”

Ilford Recorder

Redbridge mosque attack accused ‘hurled bricks’, court told

A gang hurled bricks at a mosque while a 16-year-old boy repeatedly screamed “EDL” in a reference to the far right organisation, a court has heard.

The group of six tried to storm Redbridge Islamic Centre, Eastern Avenue, Redbridge after taunting worshippers arriving for evening prayers with racist chants, jurors heard today.

The building’s front window was smashed and the imam was hit by a brick as he tried to pursue them, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told.

Ryan Jones, 23, Eliot Jones, 19, both of no fixed address and Rocky Beale, 21, of Purleigh Avenue, Woodford Green are alleged to have taken part in the attack on March 24.

Daniel Leal, 19, of Queenborough Gardens, Gants Hill, Matthew Stephenson 18, of Burrow Road, Hainault and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, are also said to have been involved in the attack.

Prosecutor Pam Oon said the 16-year-old boy “threw a brick, which smashed the front window of the mosque”.

Two people then ran inside, one of who was identified as the 16-year-old using DNA from blood found at the scene, the court was told.

It was then that imam Shafeel Begg and caretaker Mohammed Wahud gave chase, said Ms Oon.

“In the process the caretaker was injured by some broken glass,” she told jurors.

“When the imam and the caretaker came out of the mosque, the youths were still throwing bricks and shouting abuse, before they ran down Eastern Avenue towards Redbridge Tube station.

“It was then that a man with a dark top waited until the imam and the caretaker were following before throwing a brick at the imam.”

They denied having committed any offences in their interviews, the court was told.

All six deny violent disorder.

The trial continues.

London 24

Police launch probe over new BNP threat

Redbridge Police have launched an investigation after an apparently pro-British National Party (BNP) website published threats against a woman who was allegedly the victim of a racist attack.
The news comes after officers arrested a BNP by-election campaigner in Wanstead on Tuesday after she allegedly called the woman a "n****r." The police have not commented on whether the BNP canvasser has been charged.

The website, which claims to be written by an unnamed "proud BNP member", has published full details of the woman and photographs of her Wanstead home along with the threats. The website has been taken down within the past hour.

It said: "I intend to publicise your details on as many web sites as possible. You will wish you had never lied about the BNP; and that's not a lie, that's a promise."

Despite the police action, Wanstead BNP candidate John Evans said he thought the website was a fake. He said: "I think it's an absolute fake. I haven't heard of it. We don't need to resort to this rubbish. I hope they find who did it. If we can take legal action against the person that did this then we may well do so."

Waltham Forest Guardian

Brief review of last night’s election results for the BNP and National Front

This article was submitted by one of our readers, Hexapla. We welcome any contributions from our supporters (as long as those contributions conform to the law and are in reasonably good taste). Please send your articles to us via email.

Last night’s crop of four by-elections produced a set of rather lacklustre results for two of Britain’s leading fascist and racist parties, the BNP and National Front.

In the Cranbrook ward by-election, the BNP came last with just 37 votes or 1.4% of the overall vote:

Con 1,625 (60.0%)
Lab 729 (26.9%)
LD 318 (11.7%)
BNP 37 (1.4%)

The Cranbrook result is highly disappointing for the BNP (even more so as the Conservatives, who won, fielded an Asian candidate). The Cranbrook ward is situated in Redbridge, a key target area for the BNP, on the fringes of east London. Redbridge already has one sitting BNP councillor with neighbouring areas several more (the paucity of BNP votes in Cranbrook has echoes of the December 2007 Canons ward by-election result in Harrow, where the BNP also came last with only 56 votes).

Perhaps the most disappointing result for the BNP was its faltering regression in one of its electoral strongholds, Kirklees. In the Dalton ward by-election the BNP attained only 157 votes or 4.54% of the overall vote, dramatically down from the 460 votes or 10.77% of the vote it achieved earlier in May:

Labour 1397 (40.48%)
Lib Dem 1155 (33.46%)
Con 605 (17.53%)
BNP 157 (4.54%)
Green 103 (2.98%)
Ind 34 (0.98%)

Dalton result in May 2008

Lib Dem 1467 (34.33%)
Lab 1303 (30.50%)
Con 830 (19.43%)
BNP 460 (10.77%)
Green 212 (4.96%)

The Dalton by-election witnessed a lower voter turnout than in May. Traditionally, lower voter turnout favours the BNP, helping it to bolster its share of the vote. However, as the result shows, the BNP, for whatever reason, failed to capitalise on what is normally an inherent advantage for it. What will be a key test of the BNP’s electoral strength in Kirklees is the upcoming Dewsbury East ward by-election, inaugurated by the decision of BNP councillor, Colin Auty, to quit the BNP following his recent failed attempt to remove Nick Griffin as leader of the BNP.

Turning to the Wigan West ward by-election, the BNP came forth with 200 votes or 9.39% of the overall vote, down from the 264 votes or 13.78% of the vote it achieved last September:

Labour 817 (38.3%)
Conservative 528 (24.78%)
Liberal Democrat 344 (16.14%)
BNP 200 (9.39%)
UKIP 124 (5.82%)
Community Action 118 (5.54%)

Wigan West result in September 2007:

Lab 837 (43.68%)
LibDem 464 (24.22%)
BNP 264 (13.78%)
Com Act 219 (11.43%)
Ind 72 (3.76%)
Green 60 (3.13%)

The Haltemprice and Howden by-election, returning David Davis, saw the National Front just managing to beat the one-woman novelty party, Miss Great Britain Party, with 554 votes or 2.19% of the overall vote. Interestingly, the BNP did not field a candidate for this by-election:

David Davis (C) 17,113 (72.06%)
Shan Oakes (Green) 1,758 (7.40%)
Joanne Robinson (Eng Dem) 1,714 (7.22%)
Tess Culnane (NF) 544 (2.29%)
Gemma Garrett (Miss GB Party) 521 (2.19%)
Jill Saward (Ind) 492 (2.07%)
Mad Cow-Girl (Loony) 412 (1.73%)
Walter Sweeney (Ind) 238 (1.00%)
David Craig (Ind) 135 (0.57%)
David Pinder (New Party) 135 (0.57%)
David Icke (ND) 110 (0.46%)
Hamish Howitt (Freedom) 91 (0.38%)
Christopher Talbot (SEP) 84 (0.35%)
Grace Astley (Ind) 77 (0.32%)
George Hargreaves (Ch P) 76 (0.32%)
David Bishop (Elvis) 44 (0.19%)
John Upex (Ind) 38 (0.16%)
Greg Wood (Ind) 32 (0.13%)
Eamonn Fitzpatrick (Ind) 31 (0.13%)
Ronnie Carroll (History) 29 (0.12%)
Thomas Darwood (Ind) 25 (0.11%)
Christopher Foren (Ind) 23 (0.10%)
Herbert Crossman (Ind) 11 (0.05%)
Tony Farnon (Ind) 8 (0.03%)
Norman Scarth (Ind) 8 (0.03%)

For those interested readers, the National Front candidate, Tess Culnane, is a former failed BNP candidate (who recently stood in the London Assembly elections) who lost her libel action against a Liberal Democrat candidate and his agent.

Muslims under attack at centre

Muslims are being pelted with eggs and stones in anti-Islamic attacks on the South Woodford Muslim Community Centre seven years after it was destroyed in a petrol bomb attack.

"A few weeks ago there were people throwing eggs at children leaving the centre," said Qaiser Malik, secretary of the Qurani Murkuz Trust behind the centre in Mulberry Way. "People have thrown eggs and stones from the flyover. They spit on our doors and have left ham and bacon on the doorstep. Apparently the same things are happening to people at bus stops in Woodford."

Redbridge is the ninth most diverse borough in the country with 28,487 Muslim residents, however racist Islamaphobic attacks are not uncommon and the Redbridge Racial Equality Council is addressing Islamaphobia in the community with a new myth-busting pack.

Dr Mohammmed Essam El-Din Fahim, head Imam and chairman of the South Woodford centre, said Islamic hatred has been stirred up by BNP leaflets being distributed in the area condemning Islam and the mosque.

David Landau, racist harassment co-ordinator at Racial Equality Council, who has compiled a myth-busting pack, said he was not surprised by recent attacks on the mosque.

"We do not know that this is to do with the BNP and it may very well be racist Islamaphobic behaviour that is happening anyway. These events happen because of the potency of these myths so it shows how important it is to have a pack like this."

The information pack contains impartial facts about Islam to help people challenge negative misconceptions about the religion, and is aimed at community organisations and young people. Mr Landau said: "The image people tend to have if Islam is either of a fundamentalist religion or of moderate Islam with fundamentalists rocking the boat as if that is unique to Islam. Actually this runs through religions, it is not that Islam is an especially aggressive or fundamentalist faith, you get that in pretty much every religion."

Mr Malik said the pack shows a good effort to clear up common misconceptions, adding: "A lot of people don't have any knowledge of Islam and there is a lot of misconception and ignorance."

If you would like a copy contact the Redbridge Racial Equality Council on 08514 0688.

Your local Guardian

United on screen in war on racism

Faith groups across Redbridge have joined forces on the TV screen to take a stand against racism. A video entitled Rise and Fall Of Racism has been produced for Redbridge Racial Equality Council (RREC) and was officially launched last week at Redbridge Town Hall.

Satnam Singh, of RREC, said: "Reports of racist incidents were said to have gone up in schools, but recently we've found they've fallen generally. We're not sure if it's because racism itself is falling or whether people just aren't reporting incidents. That's what this film aims to do - raise awareness of the need to report racism. It also provides a chance to hear different views on the problems."

But among the contributors is Hainault British National Party (BNP) Cllr Julian Leppert, who gives his view on racism problems locally. Cllr Leppert said: "The result is pretty much how I expected it to be. People have an obvious agenda. I guess I'm on it to make it more interesting and spice it up a bit. It mentions the Stephen Lawrence case, which is now 14 years old and for which no one was ever caught, yet down the road in Barking a few years ago, a white man called Christopher Yates was killed by three Asian men, yet this doesn't get a mention."

Mr Singh said Cllr Leppert had been approached about appearing in the video in order to ensure it was balanced. Other contributors in the film include Redbridge Council leader Cllr Alan Weinberg, Redbridge Police Chief Insp Carl Lindley as well as members of different faith groups, including Jagdev Purewal of the Punjabi Centre in Ley Street, Ilford.

Mr Purewal said: "I spoke about two things - one was about wearing a turban and being called a Paki. It's youngsters that do it, as they don't know the difference between a Pakistani and an Indian. But I also said about how relations between faiths are improving. I've attended numerous weddings between black and white people as well as mixed-faith weddings."

Raj Channan of Ilford Hindu Centre in Cleveland Road, Ilford, also comments on the video. Footage is shown of Cllr Weinberg saying he "detests" the BNP and of an anti-BNP rally in neighbouring Barking and Dagenham.

The 25-minute film is being made available to community groups and schools, which already look at racism issues through citizenship lessons. Mr Singh said: "We hope to have a web link of the video available by the end of the month, so people can watch it themselves. It's all about raising awareness."

Ilford Recorder