2 min read
ByRosa Doherty, Rosa Doherty
FIRST PERSON
November 6, 2014 11:34Justice has been served for the man who I heard threaten "to burn the Jews" on a 102 bus full of schoolchildren in Golders Green in September.
After months of what became a JC campaign to find him and highlight the repeated failures of Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police to act on my 999 call, Ian Campbell is now serving 20 weeks in prison.
I sat in Hendon Magistrates' Court last Friday and heard district judge Mark Jabbitt, tell Campbell: "The 102 bus is a popular bus with many Jewish people, including children. Many Jewish people live in that area and you plainly knew that.
"You used grossly abusive and offensive language. You clearly caused alarm and distress and regrettably I don't think this conduct is particularly unusual."
Campbell received 16 weeks for a racially aggravated public order offence and four for a theft for which he was on a conditional licence
This was the man who sat screaming "get the Jews off the bus, all they do is f*** us", got off and was later let back on by a driver who told me: "It was nothing - just shouting."
He didn't co-operate when I called 999 and, while I later learned a 999 response team had been sent, it went in the wrong direction.
After my story appeared in the JC I was contacted by MPs to high ranking officers in the Met and Transport for London, all assuring me something would be done.
All the while I couldn't help thinking why wasn't it being done already?
Campbell's sentence says "this is what zero tolerance looks like" at a time when we are experiencing a frightening rise in antisemitism.
The JC has been at the forefront of documenting how that rise has taken place and in this case we were able to act.
The sentence was welcomed by TfL, whose director of enforcement, Steve Burton, said: "This was an appalling incident and we are pleased to see the offender jailed for his crimes.
Ch Sup Matt Bell, Roads and Transport Policing Command said: "This sentence sends a strong message that this type of behaviour is totally unacceptable and will result in tough penalties. "
But for me it is not over.
Campbell boarded that bus with a known problem with alcohol abuse and mental health issues.
He told police he "hated the Jews" after watching Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ, and news reports of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
He demonstrated a warped understanding of our community and I would have liked any punishment to challenge and change that.
I have asked to try restorative justice and I'm hoping he will also be able to benefit from work The Anne Frank trust does with offenders.
I want his punishment to have a positive outcome, and as it stands sending him to prison without help for his problems or education, I don't see how that would happen.
RJ provides victims the chance to communicate with their offenders to explain the real impact of the crime. It also helps offenders take responsibility and can reduce re offending by 27 per cent . Prison may have taken him off the street but I'd like it to put him back on it safely, for him and the community he attacked.