racist attacks in UK

Shock CCTV of racist attacks
Sickening ... Justin and Luke Lovedale attack shopkeeper



By JOHN COLES

Published: 23 Oct 2009

The SUN (UK)

THREE racist teenagers have been publicly named and shamed for a series of sickening assaults on Asian shopkeepers.

Feral twins Luke and Justin Lovedale and yob Nicholas Gardener were all 16 when they launched their attacks amid a torrent of racist abuse.

The trio — now 17 — sneered and laughed as CCTV footage of one of the sickening assaults was shown to a court.


It showed them wrestling one shopkeeper to the floor before stamping on him as they shouted 'F***ing P***' while a terrified female shopkeeper desperately tried to fend them off.

Another clip showed them battering two shopkeepers to the ground before repeatedly stamping on them.

They admitted the attacks in Bristol this year but denied they were racially motivated — despite Luke Lovedale telling police after his arrest: "I aint beaten up no P***. F***ing **** needs to go back home."

Luke and Justin Lovedale

Hate crimes ... teen brute Justin Lovedale and his twin Luke, right

District Judge David Parsons found all three defendants guilty of racially aggravated common assault — and lifted an order banning their identification.

He warned them all to expect jail and told Bristol Magistrates' Court: "The protection of the community outweighed the teenagers' interests.

"Race hatred should be dealt with seriously by the court, and your victims deserve the protection of the court."

The convictions come days after a BBC Panorama programme showed an undercover reporter being subjected to race hate on Bristol's Southmead estate.

Gardener, who has 19 previous convictions, stormed in to Costcutter in Bedminster, Bristol, with an unidentified pal on April 5 and attacked shopkeeper Hardik Patel.

He punched him to the ground before hitting him twice more and shouted "You f****** P***".

The other youth then kicked him three times in the stomach and as they ran away Gardener shouted: "I will kill you, you f****** P***."

Two months later the Lovedale twins and Gardener — boyfriend of the brothers' sister — went to a Bargain Booze at 10.30pm to buy cigarettes and vodka.

When staff refused to serve them they launched a sickening assault on shopkeeper Ashok Selvam as a female member of staff frantically tried to beat them off with a broom handle.

They pulled his T-shirt over his head and, as one brother held him in a headlock, the other repeatedly punched him in the face.

Mr Selvam told the court that as they assaulted him they shouted "F****** Asian, f****** P***."

Less than an hour later, the three teenagers went to a nearby Costcutter and snatched a bottle of wine.

As shopkeeper Parakram Zala tried to call cops Gardener punched him in the face, shouting "We will kill you, f****** P***."

Colleague Girish Patel tried to fend of the youths, before all three began hitting him.

CCTV footage shows them continuing to punch and kick the two shopkeepers as they lay on the floor.

Mr Patel was left with such serious injuries he feared he may lose the sight in his left eye.

The three thugs showed no remorse throughout the three-day trial and sat yawning and sighing in the dock, chatting to each other and laughing.

Gardener was remanded in custody but the Lovedale twins were released on bail, on condition that they live at their home in south Bristol with a curfew of 8pm to 6am.

Detective Constable Gary Booth, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: "Racism will not be tolerated in Bristol."

The three will be sentenced on November 11.