Disability hate crime missed by police

By Cathy Reay

A case of harassment against a disabled London woman, in which her attacker admitted to calling her a “spastic c***”, has not been classified as hate crime.

“He would scream through the walls, insult my disability and threaten to beat up my child,” said the woman (who asked not to be named). “This has been going on and off for five years, but usually by the time I called the police and they’d arrived, he’d be gone.”

The Home Office includes neighbour abuse in its definition of hate crime but many disabled people who report such abuse find their complaints classified as nothing more than anti-social behaviour. Katharine Quarmby, Disability Now’s news editor, in her report on hate crime for Disability Now, Scope and the UK’s Disabled People’s Council, Getting Away With Murder, found a pattern of abuse in many cases of disability hate crime, where neighbour disputes often escalated into more serious violence.

The Metropolitan Police said that they had treated the complainant as “vulnerable” but that they did not classify the case as a hate crime. Anne Novis, who co-chairs the Disability Independent Advisory Group to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), while acknowledging that the case was dealt with well, felt it could have been pursued with more vigour.

She said: “The MPS should have flagged this case as a hate crime, not vulnerable adult abuse. The Crown Prosecution Service should have identified this as hate crime and ensured that section 146 was used to enhance the sentencing in this case.”

Michael Widdowson pleaded guilty to harassment of the disabled woman on 8 October, 2007, and between 13 October and 14 November, 2007, at Bexleyheath Magistrates Court in January. He was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and a two-year restraining order, and ordered to pay costs of £175.

While waiting to serve his sentence, Mr Widdowson continued to harass his neighbour. He received eight months’ imprisonment for breaching his restraining order, which he later appealed against at Thamesmead Crown Court. He won the appeal and was released on 5 September, 2008, after a total of just two months’ imprisonment.

The disabled woman, who says she still feels unsafe in her home, is currently seeking alternative accommodation.