Community order for man who leered at girl before racially abusing good samaritan

A church volunteer licked his lips and blew kisses at a girl on a bus before trying to punch a good samaritan who intervened.

Robert Jones started staring at the 17-year-old on a Stagecoach vehicle as it travelled along the Fossway, in Byker, one evening in September last year.

He then began to lick his lips at her, blow kisses and whisper “sexy” before a fellow passenger noticed what was happening and intervened.

But, drunk Jones didn’t stop there and made a racist slur at the man, who was from the Philippines, before throwing a punch at his face, a court heard.

Thankfully, the 53-year-old missed and he was reported to the bus driver by other shocked passengers.

Jones, of Valley Gardens, Wallsend, has apologised “profusely” for his behaviour as he pleaded guilty to one count of racially aggravated common assault and a public order offence.

During a hearing at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Clare Irving said the incident happened on a Stagecoach bus at around 8.30pm on September 29.

The court heard how the victim managed to push Jones’s arms away before his fist hit his face.

In a statement, the teenage girl said:

Alanna Wesencraft, mitigating, said Jones had acted out of character because he’d been out drinking for a friend’s birthday.

“He apologised profusely,” the solicitor added.

Jones was given a 12-month community order and fined a total of £120.