Racist knife threat to workers at takeaway (From The Northern Echo)

Racist knife threat to workers at takeaway

12:14pm Wednesday 25th August 2010 in

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A DRUNKEN racist ridiculed for staggering in the street lost his temper and made threats with a kitchen knife, a court was told yesterday.

Gary Littlefair had fallen out with his girlfriend when he began hurling abuse In Fore Bondgate, in Bishop Auckland, on August 14.

Shop workers of ethnic minorities from the Pizza Place takeaway were making light of his stumbling, but Littlefair saw red and hit out, shouting racial abuse at them.

The 27-year-old, of Beech Terrace, Eldon Lane, near Bishop Auckland, appearing at Bishop Auckland Magistrates’ Court admitted inciting fear of violence and having a blade and cannabis.

Alison Nunn, prosecuting, said one man, a driver for the takeaway, originally from Iraq, was baffled by the angry response and another shop worker made to confront him.

Magistrates were told Littlefair left the scene but returned five minutes later with a kitchen knife.

Mrs Nunn said he then punched the shop window and shouted abuse, passing the knife from hand to hand.

He threatened to kill members of the group, demanding they “get back to their own country”.

The driver then told Littlefair he had alerted police, prompting the racist to bolt.

“It is the first time he [the driver] had been threatened with a knife by anyone,” said Mrs Nunn. “He was worried he was going to kill him or one of his friends.

“The incident lasted for 30 minutes in full.”

Littlefair later told officers, who found the blade and cannabis on him, that one shop worker had produced a machete which made him angry.

Clive Booth, mitigating, said Littlefair was sorry.

“Gary feels horrible about this and knows it was the wrong thing to do and is extremely ashamed of the way he has behaved,” he said.

He said Littlefair missed his girlfriend and had been drinking at Cockton Hill Workingmen’s Club for some time before the incident.

He said Littlefair took exception to becoming a figure of fun as he stumbled while making his way to his mother’s house for tobacco.

“He [Littlefair] insists that he is not a racist person and the abuse was utilised as a way to make his feelings known about being laughed at,” said Mr Booth.

Littlefair will be sentenced at Durham Crown Court on Tuesday, September 21.

He is not to enter Fore Bondgate, in Bishop Auckland, until the case is concluded.