Jail for racist who attacked Imam

Richard Wallace had been watching football in a pub before the attack

A former London Transport ticket inspector has been jailed for four and a half years for an unprovoked attack on a disabled Kent religious leader.

Richard Wallace, 27, of Verney Road, Rotherhithe, south-east London, pleaded guilty to assaulting Arshed Mahmood.

He was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court to three years in prison for grievous bodily harm and 18 months for the attack being racially aggravated.

The deputy Imam was hit over the head as he left his mosque in Maidstone.

Racist abuse

Mr Mahmood, 53, who needs crutches to walk, was hit with a beer glass, punched in the face, and had his crutches thrown away by Wallace on 21 August this year.

The court heard that at the same time Wallace, who had been drinking in a pub and watching football before the attack, shouted racist and obscene abuse.

He had later claimed that he was not a racist.

Sentencing Wallace, Judge Andrew Patience said: "Racism, in whatever form, is an evil that society will not tolerate."