Man who ripped off woman's veil while shouting "You f***ing stupid Muslim” is jailed

Peter Scotter, 56, pleads guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating

Peter Scotter, 56, targeted the 21-year-old woman outside a shopping centre in Sunderland on 3 July last year (PA)

A man who ripped a niqab from a woman’s face while shouting "You f***ing stupid Muslim” has been jailed over the attack.

Peter Scotter, 56, targeted the 21-year-old woman, who describes herself as a practicising Muslim, outside a shopping centre in Sunderland on 3 July last year.

It came just weeks after the Brexit vote, which coincided with a sharp increase in the number of racially or religiously aggravated crimes recorded by police in England and Wales.

After sticking his middle finger up at a photographer as he arrived at Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Scotter pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault by beating.

The court heard how the woman had been waiting with her nine-year-old son for her husband outside a jewellery shop at The Bridges shopping centre.

Mr Scotter, from Roker in Sunderland, then walked towards her and pulled her niqab veil from her head “really hard”, before throwing it to the ground.

After exposing the distraught woman’s face, he shouted racist slurs at her, such as “you’re in our country now f***ing get out” and “you f***ing stupid Muslim”.

The court heard how the victim’s husband then came out of the shop and pushed Mr Scotter away in order to protect his wife, while a few members of the public also came to offer her assistance.

Prosecutor Neil Pallister told the court: “She was in so much shock she didn’t know or understand what he said. She was shouting at him: ‘What you doing man, how dare you?’

"When she recovered her niqab it had been damaged by the defendant’s actions."

A judge was told how when he was being dragged away by security, Mr Scotter claimed he was taking his "f***ing country back". Once he had been arrested, he even said his victim “could have been a bomber”, the court heard.

Tony Hawks, defending, told the court Mr Scotter carried out an “ignorant and despicable piece of behaviour” when he was “hopelessly drunk”.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the woman said how the incident had left her afraid to go outside.

It read: "The male encroached my personal space and assaulted me. He had no right to do that. I believe this incident has taken place because of my religion and the clothes I wear.

“This incident has left me scared to go out, I don’t want to go into the town again because this happens. My nine-year-old son had to witness this happening to his mother.”

Sentencing Scotter to fifteen months in prison, Judge Stephen Earl, said: “Comments like you have made cannot be accepted in our society.”

In July 2016, police recorded a 41 per cent increase compared to the same month the year before, according to a Home Office report.