The aggravating features

Metro UK reports:

A transgender police community support officer was left feeling ‘upset and embarrassed’ after a teen yelled out:’ Is it a boy or is it a girl?’

Declan Armstrong, 19, saw PSCO Connor Freel when he was on duty in Mold, North Wales on October 16 last year.

When the officer looked over at him, he repeated the comment ‘very loudly’, Rhian Jackson, prosecuting, said.

Ms Jackson said: ‘Due to his transgender, when Connor heard Declan say what he said, it left him feeling upset and embarrassed.’

Armstrong was given a curfew requirement and ordered to pay £590 at Mold Magistrates’ Court today after he was found guilty of making the comments to PCSO Connor Freel following an earlier trial.

People shouldn’t yell taunts or insults at people in the street.

However.

£590???

I wonder how often men have to pay £590 for shouting insults and taunts at women in Mold, North Wales (or anywhere else).

Armstrong, of Victory Court, Mold, was convicted of a public order offence following a trial earlier this month but the court heard he still denied making the comments.

Gary Harvey, defending, said: ‘He doesn’t hold any prejudice against anyone in society.’

The court heard Armstrong, who acts as a carer for a man he considers his father, had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and suffered from anxiety and depression.

Sentencing, district judge Roger Lowe said the aggravating features of the case were that Mr Freel was performing a public service as a PCSO and the incident was in a busy town centre where other people could hear what was said.

He said the sentence had been uplifted from a low level to a medium level community order because of its transphobic nature.

Does that apply to misogynist taunts in the street? Racist taunts in the street? Xenophobic taunts in the street? Anti-Semitic taunts in the street? Anti-Muslim taunts in the street? Homophobic taunts in the street? Or is it just transphobia that results in a £590 fine?

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