Man in court after hurling racial abuse at Waitrose security guard

A Waitrose customer tried to provoke a security guard at the Bath store into a fight and hurled a racial slur at him, magistrates heard.

On 18th June last year, Julian Rouse was said to appear “intoxicated”, was refusing to leave the store in The Podium as requested and was “squaring up” to staff.

He took off his jumper and tried to goad a security guard into a fight, calling him a “black b*stard”.

Rouse’s actions were caught on CCTV.

He left the store before police officers arrived, and they located him on Manvers Street and arrested him.

Appearing at Bath Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 22nd May, Rouse admitted a racially aggravated offence of causing harassment, alarm or distress.

However, the 64-year-old stressed to magistrates that he is not a racist.

The court heard he suffers from long-term anxiety, and that he maintained he’d only consumed one glass of lager that day.

His legal representative said that Rouse had gone into Waitrose to buy toothpaste and mouthwash, and although the security guard had said he knew Rouse to be a shoplifter, the defendant’s last conviction for shoplifting had been in 2012.

Magistrates were told that Rouse also had a conviction in 2018 for a public order offence for which he was fined.

They imposed a 12-month community order, which will see Rouse carrying out unpaid work. They told him it would have been for 60 hours but because of the racial element, it had been increased to 90 hours.

Rouse must also pay £200 compensation, but no court order was made to cover prosecution costs or for a victim surcharge, which is a penalty that a court can apply to those convicted of offences.