Guilty plea for commuter who subjected ticket inspector to homophobic abuse (8 October 2015)

A man who subjected a female ticket inspector to verbal abuse has pleaded guilty to a charge of making homophobic and abusive remarks.

The incident happened at Walkden Railway Station in Greater Manchester on Friday, 9 January 2015, when the ticket inspector stopped the defendant – 42-year-old John Turner – and requested that he purchase a ticket.

The ticket inspector was conducting ticket checks with some of her colleagues at the railway station, when she noticed that Turner had walked past the ticket office without purchasing a ticket.

Turner told her that he wanted to buy a ticket once on board the train or he would miss it. However, the ticket inspector refused his request and again asked him to buy a ticket.

This resulted in Turner missing his train and he then subjected the ticket inspector to a volley of verbal abuse.

The matter was reported to British Transport Police who, as a result, arrested Turner and later charged him.

At Manchester City Magistrates’ Court, John Turner from Walkenden, Salford in Greater Manchester pleaded guilty to an offence of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, with intent to cause another person harassment, alarm or distress.

He pleaded guilty on the basis that the offence was aggravated by him, demonstrating hostility towards the victim based on the sexual orientation (or presumed sexual orientation) of the victim.

Turner will be sentenced on 21 October at the same court.

The District Crown Prosecutor and Hate Crime Coordinator from West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), John Bristow, said:

“Homophobic hate crimes are based on ignorance and discrimination – and have no place in an open and democratic society.

“The conviction of John Turner demonstrates how seriously the Crown Prosecution Service considers these sort of cases.

“The victim in this case was discharging a public duty when she was abused by Turner in this appalling fashion.

“Homophobic abuse has no place in a liberal and democratic society – and I would urge those who feel they have been the victims of homophobic or other hate crime to report it to the police.

“The CPS is determined to get justice for every person we serve – and where we have sufficient evidence that a crime was based on hostility towards someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, prosecutors will argue that this is an aggravating factor in court.”

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