A 21-year-old man has been sentenced after being convicted of a racially aggravated public order offence following a trial.

Harry Chave, of Weston, was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work, ordered to pay £775 court costs, as well as a £95 victim surcharge, at North Somerset Magistrates’ Court on September 27. He had already admitted a second public order offence prior to his trial taking place.

The charges relate to an incident which happened immediately after a two-vehicle collision in Christon Hill, Christon, on December 27, 2020.

Chave was driving one of the vehicles involved in the collision, and in the aftermath he got out of his car and verbally abused the 67-year-old driver of the other vehicle involved.

He punched her vehicle numerous times, before getting inside and verbally abusing her further. He used a racially offensive term during the offence and only retreated when another member of the public intervened.

Investigating officer, PC Owen Davies, said: “Following a minor road traffic collision, Chave racially abused and verbally threatened a 67-year-old woman, leaving her in fear for her safety.

“There is absolutely no excuses for the behaviour he engaged in on that day and we will always take any report of a hate crime extremely seriously.

“We carried out a thorough investigation which resulted in Chave being charged with two public order offences – one of them being racially aggravated – and while he admitted one of the public order offences, he was convicted of the second by a jury.”