The deputy leader of Britain First has been found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment after she hurled abuse at a Muslim woman in Luton.
The Independent reports that Jayda Fransen, 30, was fined nearly £2,000 for wearing a political uniform and shouting at Sumayyah Sharpe during a “Christian patrol” of Bury Park in January.
Fransen admitted telling Ms Sharpe that Muslim men force women to cover up to avoid being raped “because they cannot control their sexual urges,” adding “that’s why they are coming into my country raping women across the continent.”
Ms Sharpe was with her four young children at the time.
Fransen denied the words were intended to be offensive at a trial in Luton and South Bedfordshire Magistrates’ Court.
“The reason I said them was because from everything I have studied, I understand them to be true,” Fransen said in her defence.
District Judge Carolyn Mellanby said she believed the group had gone to the area “looking for trouble” – but said Ms Sharpe had been mistaken as an “easy target.”
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“I have no doubt the words used towards her [Ms Sharpe], in her expression, represented everything against her and what she believes in,” she said. “In other words, offensive, insulting, abusive and, in my judgment, intended to cause offence and alarm and distress to her religion.”
In a video posted to Facebook after the verdict, Fransen said: “It was just absolutely absurd in the court. It was just a really clear display of Islamic appeasement.”
She said “we have an establishment that is against anything patriotic in this country and is only concerned with appeasing the Muslim community”.
Paul Golding, the leader of Britain first, said: “The fact of the matter is, it’s one rule of law for Muslims, the protected species in this country, and another for British people.”
