Met Line Passenger Pays The Price For Racial Abuse

5 February 2013, 06:00

A man who racially abused a Tube passenger has been fined £2,000, following a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation.

Jonathan O’Shea, 29, of High Street, Rickmansworth committed the offence onboard a Metropolitan line train as it travelled from Baker Street station to Eastcote, between 9.10pm and 9.45pm on Wednesday, 11 July 2012.

O’Shea was given a £2,000 fine and was ordered to pay £500 compensation, £650 costs and a £15 victim surcharge after being found guilty of racially aggravated harassment.

At Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 30 January, the court heard the victim, a 32 year-old woman from Peckham, boarded the westbound train at Baker Street and during the journey heard O’Shea making racist remarks to three women.

The group of women got off the train and O’Shea continued to make racist comments directed towards the victim, before leaving the train at Eastcote station.

O’Shea, an accounts manager, denied the charge but was found guilty.

Speaking after the sentencing, PC Andy Burns, the investigating officer, said: "This was an intimidating experience that left the victim feeling shocked, humiliated and very upset. During the journey the victim managed to take a picture of O’Shea on her mobile phone, which we used to identify him on CCTV and track him through the network.

We take reports of racial abuse extremely seriously and the £2,000 fine shows just how seriously the courts take this sort of behaviour too.

Anyone who has been a victim of this type of crime should report it to police or Tube staff immediately so that it can be investigated.

We will do everything we can to identify and arrest offenders."