A SURREY man has been sentenced to a community order after racially abusing a police officer at Henley Regatta.
Thomas Frankham, aged 29, of Lydia Park, Cranleigh, was convicted today at Oxford Crown Court for the incident.
Between 4am and 6am on Friday, July 5, 2019, Frankham racially abused PC Ali, making abusive references to his race and perceived religion.
He was convicted of religiously aggravated intentional harassment or distress and given a community order for 12 months and prohibited from attending premises where alcohol is served.
He was also made subject to a four-month monitoring requirement and ordered to attend an anger management programme for ten days and pay £500 compensation to his victim and £1,000 in costs.
Investigating officer PC Ryan Dollery, based at Abingdon police station, said he was pleased the court convicted Frankham.
“Police officers should be able to go about their day to day work without being subjected to any kind of abuse, and this type of behaviour is completely unacceptable,” he said. “I think that this sentence shows that racial and religious abuse towards police officers, or indeed a member of the public, will not be tolerated, and we will bring offenders to justice in all cases.
“I hope that the sanctions handed out by the court will enable Frankham to think about the consequences of his actions, and these will not be repeated.”
