South Essex hate crime victims join bid to stamp out abuse

Over the last three years, south Essex has been plagued by a host of vile incidents which have contributed to a 20 per cent year-on-rise of hate crimes across the area.

According to Essex Police’s recorded crime figures, in the 12 months to March 2019 there were 830 incidents recorded throughout Basildon, Southend, Canvey and Rochford, a jump from 671 recorded hate crimes in the 12 months to March 2018.

The worrying rise has led to Basildon mayor David-Burton Sampson speaking out.

Even as a child Mr Burton Sampson was subjected to hateful abuse, to the point where he needed a child psychologist.

He was again targeted in June last year while raising the Pride flag for Essex Pride in St Martin’s Square, Basildon.

He said: “To be made to feel that you’re different is really hurtful. As a child I had a terrible amount of racist abuse at school, being the only person of any colour in a very white school, and I used to get bullied severely with foul comments and abuse.

“I ended up having to see a child psychologist because of the impact it was having.

“I was getting pains in my neck and shoulders, where the abuse was causing me so much stress and tension as a primary school aged boy. That’s appalling.

“Without the support I had, I wouldn’t have been able to get over that.

“Last June was disturbing when I was abused whilst raising the rainbow flag for Essex Pride in my role as mayor.

“There was a gang who were drunk and getting noisy during my speech, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Later that afternoon I got a call from our communications officer who had been editing the film, and while I was raising the flag you can hear them chanting racist comments at me, yelling: ‘Raise the f*** flag you N-word.’

“The people were celebrating the fact that Basildon finally had a black, gay mayor, which is quite a momentous thing in this borough. They then saw that same person being abused for the colour of their skin.”

The proud mayor added: “The stats speak for themselves, over the last year we had a lesbian couple who were going about their business in Pitsea and were targeted. We’ve also had racist graffiti in various places in the borough.

“These are worrying signs and there’s a lot that needs to be done to tackle this. That’s what we should be tackling here, not tackling those that are different.”

In the 12 months to March last year there were 419 racial and religiously aggravated crimes in south Essex, including 201 in Southend, 55 in Castle Point, 26 in Rochford and 137 in Basildon.

This was a 16 per cent increase from the 12 months to March 2018.

A hate crime victim, who spoke to the Echo on the condition she is not named, says her family have been targeted ever since they moved to Canvey in December last year.

The 33-year-old said: “It all began from the very day we moved in.

“There were lots of rumours about how our Jewish family would affect residents’ lives when we came here. We had people on our street threaten to hurt us and our children for no reason. The kids were so frightened they’d wake up in the middle of the night panicking something might happen.

“We were told they would terrorise us until we leave. People were saying that we would kill their dogs, that we would cheat the law and steal and just cause major disruption in their lives. It really shocked us, when this is completely against what we believe in.

“It made us feel unwelcome, unwanted and frightened.

“We reported it to the police online and they contacted us straight away, before coming round to check if we were okay. We wanted to try and be on as good terms with those threatening us as possible so we asked if they wouldn’t mind just keeping an eye out.

“They reassured us things could be taken further if anything else happened. We were referred to a victim support team and offered help.

“Now things have mostly calmed down, which is a relief, but we still do get ignorant comments. Even now people throw eggs specifically at Jewish people’s homes on Canvey.

“We feel very misunderstood. Although we dress different, we eat different foods and have different beliefs to some, we are normal people. For me, it helped so much speaking to the police about what we’d been through, they were so supportive.”

Don't suffer in silence

VICTIMS are being urged to speak out to help tackle the underreporting of hate crime.

Despite Essex Police recording 2,599 incidents across the force in the 12 months to January 2019, it is believed a large number of incidents go underreported.

Throughout last year alone, The Echo reported how a gay couple were attacked and beaten in Southend High Street, how a lesbian couple became prisoners in their own home after receiving repeated abuse from homophobic thugs, how homophobic graffiti was sprayed in Southend as annual Pride celebrations kicked off, and how anti-Semitic slogans were painted on vehicles and garages across Canvey.

Posters were also stuck on lampposts around Rayleigh depicting attacks on people in Islamic clothing and a brick was thrown at The UK Islamic Mission Mosque, Westcliff, in a suspected hate crime.

Chief Inspector Ian Hughes from Essex Police, said: “There’s about a 20 per cent increase on hate crime through a year-on-year period. Our funding levels are set by the amount of crimes we have reported, so it’s important that that’s a true reflection of what’s happening.

“Underreporting is a massive challenge. My plea would be that victims don’t suffer in silence; hate crime is a horrible thing to go through and I can’t even imagine how it must feel being targeted because of a characteristic such as race, religion or anything else.”

He added: “Essex Police take it very seriously no matter the category, but we know there are some barriers between us and the community. Fortunately, we’re well engaged with Transpire, a Southend LGBT group, and have ambassadors in organisations like Southend Council and the Citizen’s Advice Bureau. We also rely on charities like Southend Pride for help and have a team of fully trained hate crime officers in Operation Quartz.”

Lauren McSpadden, hate crime champion from Victim Support, said: “Hate crime has a disproportionate impact on people; some don’t want to report it to the police. People can call our victim support team for free or the police may refer them to us for support.

“We look at understanding hate crime, preventing it, reporting it, increasing access to support and improving the overall response to it.”

“This issue is so underreported, so speaking out could help others build their confidence to do the same.”

Where can you get support when hate crime affects you

SUPPORT for those affected by hate crime goes further than just Essex Police.

The force classes a behaviour as hate crime when “someone commits a crime against you because of your disability, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion, or any other perceived difference.”

This doesn’t always include physical violence – someone using offensive language towards you or harassing you because of who you are, or who they think you are – is also a crime.

The same goes for someone posting abusive or offensive messages online.

Different types of hate crime include physical assault, verbal abuse, and incitement to hatred. Hate content may include messages calling for violence against a specific person or group, web pages which show pictures, videos or descriptions of violence against anyone due to their perceived differences, and chat forums where people ask others to commit hate crimes against a specific person or group.

People can report hate crime on 101, online at the Essex Police website, or by visiting your nearest police station. In an emergency please call 999.

If you don’t want to go to the police you can visit a hate crime reporting centre. There are five in Basildon, two in Castle Point, three in Rochford, and six in Southend.

Essex Police launched their Stop the Hate campaign in October in a bid to tackle the issue. Charities, including Basildon Pride, which was first formed in 2018 when vicious leaflets were posted through residents’ doors telling the LGBT+ community they needed to apologise for their sins, are also on hand to support those affected.

To report incidents anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or True Vision at report-it.org.uk.

Alternatively, contact Victim Support on 0808 178 1694, or the 24/7 Stop Hate UK hotline on 0800 138 1625.

Hate crime across south Essex this time last year in comparison to previous years: