A pair of pensioners have been spared a prison sentence for racially abusing a mother and her two young children on a bus in Brighton.
Peter Ford, 70, and Jennifer Ford, 67, of Wellington Road, Brighton, pleaded guilty to causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm or distress.
They were given a two-year conditional discharge at Lewes Crown Court.
They were arrested in August after CCTV pictures were published showing them on the 81 bus in Elm Grove in June when the offence took place.
The pair racially abused Natalie Fahey and her children aged 5 and 7.
PC Natasha Swan said: “This was an appalling incident and I am pleased with the sentence that the Fords received today.
“The victim and her young children were unnecessarily subjected to racial abuse.
“Sussex Police will not tolerate racial abuse of any kind irrespective of the age of the offenders.
“I would like to thank the local media for their help in circulating the CCTV footage that showed the suspects on the bus and to those members of the public who rang the police with vital information in the early stages of the investigation.”
we need a wikileak clone to find out what the actual words were — of course, the volume and facial tone of the utterance would be useful to get a fuller picture of the crime…..