Crime and prejudice
Beware of jumping to conclusions about Brexit-induced violence
ROSS CLARKseemed to be a far less pleasant place.
The idea of anti-Polish murder in post-
Brexit Britain was understandably shock-
ing. But what was the evidence for it?
Crimes take time to investigate, the truth
takes months to come out. When the answer
came in Chelmsford crown court last week,
there was far less media interest. Given the
prominence of the story, it’s worth setting
the record straight.
The killer, a 16-year-old, was sentenced
to three years’ detention for manslaugh-
ter. The court ruled he threw a punch which
caused Jozwik to fall to the ground and sus-
tain fatal head injuries. Rightly, his violence
has been punished, but was it an unprovoked
hate crime? It emerged from the case that
there was a racial element to the incident— although the racism was not aimed at Mr
Jozwik. On the contrary, the court heard it
was Mr Jozwik and his friends who made
racist comments against the then 15-year-
old and those he was with. As the defence
counsel put it: ‘They made racist remarks to
the youngsters, then invited violence from
them, and they were considerably bigger
and stronger than the young people.’
The tragic death of Mr Jozwik brings
shame on Britain for conditions in town cen-
tres late at night. But what evidence of a link
to Brexit? None at all. Drunkenness and
violence have been a problem for decades.
So what about the great surge in hate
crime that was reported after the Brexit
vote, of which the death of Mr Jozwik was
said to have been part? In October last year,
the Home Office reported a spike in report-
ed hate crimes in the July — 5,468 of them,
a 41 per cent increase on the same month
in 2015. Quoted in a Guardian article which
carried a photograph of Mr Jozwik, David
Issac, chairman of the Equality and Human
Rights Commission, declared that the fig-
ures ‘make it very clear that some people
used the referendum result to justify their
deplorable views and promote intoleranceN
othing spoke of the fractious
atmosphere in the aftermath of
the Brexit referendum more than
the death of 40-year-old Arek Jozwik in a
shopping centre in Harlow, Essex in August- What might, on any other weekend,
have been passed over as just another
grubby Saturday-night incident on Britain’s
drunken high streets became elevated into
a symptom of Brexit-induced racial hatred.
James O’Brien, an LBC radio talk-show
host, declared that certain Eurosceptics had
‘blood on their hands’ as did ‘anybody who
has suggested speaking Polish in a public
place is in any way undesirable’. This was
the premise of almost all reporting on the
story: a man seemed to have been murdered
for being Polish.
Viewers of BBC1’s News at Six were
told, ‘the fear is that this was a frenzied rac-
ist attack triggered by the Brexit referen-
dum’. The story was taken up by the world’s
media with the New York Times writing
that Jozwik ‘was repeatedly pummelled and
kicked by a group of boys and girls’ because,
according to his brother, he had ‘been over-
heard speaking Polish outside a takeout
pizza restaurant’. Razem, a left-wing Polish
party, released a statement saying ‘the rac-
ist and xenophobic attitudes are reaping an
increasingly horrid harvest.’ In Harlow, resi-
dents held a candlelit vigil to protest against
what was explained to them as a wave of
hate. To people at home and abroad, Britain
James O’Brien, a host on LBC radio,
declared that certain Eurosceptics
had ‘blood on their hands’‘This area’s popular with people who go
on to develop special dietary requirements.’Roll up, roll upParty conferences this year revolve around
the familiar settings of Bournemouth,
Brighton and Manchester. But one party
used to be more adventurous.
— For its first conference in 1981 the newly
formed Social Democratic Party (SDP)
opted to have a rolling conference with
meetings in Perth, Bradford and London,
with the entourage travelling between
them (to quote the Conservative Research
Department) ‘rather like Trotsky in his
armoured train’.
— The following year the train rolled
between Cardiff, Derby and Great
Yarmouth, but broke down between
Peterborough and Ely on the last leg.
— The travelling conference was then
abandoned, but during its last assembly
as a major party in 1989, leader David
Owen gave his speech on the seafront at
Scarborough due to a bomb scare.
Euro millionsHow much do we send to the EU per week?
£350 million gross contribution excluding
rebate (due to rise to £375 million by 2019).
£235 m gross contribution minus rebate.
£155 m gross contribution minus rebate
and EU funding of UK public projects.
£106 m gross contribution minus all EU
money spent in UK, such as farm payments.
Last ordersWayne Rooney was banned from driving
for two years, fined £170 and given 100
hours of community service for drink-
driving. In addition to disqualification, how
are drink-drivers punished?
— In 2015 there were 37,578 convictions,
30,357 of them male and 7,007 female. This
compared with 72,127 a decade earlier.
Fines ......................................................76%
Community orders...............................16%
Suspended sentence ...............................3%
Immediate custody .................................2%
Conditional discharge ........................0.5%
Absolute discharge .............................0.2%
Source: drinkdriving.org
Melting pointThe final surviving snow patch from last
winter in the Scottish Highlands was
reported to be on the point of melting —
for only the sixth time in 300 years. How
many snow patches have survived from
winter to winter in recent years?
2011-12 ....................................................... 2
2012-13 ....................................................... 6
2013-14 ........................................................ 6
2014-15 .................................................... 21
2015-16 ..................................................... 74
2016-17 ....................................................... 7
Source: Scottish Snow Patch Survey
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