A 29-year-old man, Abdullah Qureshi, was found guilty of one count of racially or religiously aggravated grievous bodily harm and two counts of racially or religiously aggravated common assault for hate crimes. This follows 3 assaults on members of the Orthodox Jewish community including a 14-year-old boy.

On the 18th August 2021 Qureshi travelled nearly 200 miles from his West Yorkshire home to London, where he carried out three racially motivated attacks on Orthodox Jews. The court heard that Qureshi claimed that it was a ‘coincidence’ they were all of the same faith – despite all victims wearing distinctive clothing, which made them identifiable as Orthodox Jews. Crimes took place over 2 hours and were committed in 3 locations.

One victim was hit in the face with a glass bottle, another elderly victim was forcefully hit in the face causing him to fall onto a brick wall. The victim then lost consciousness, was hospitalised and experienced some temporary memory loss due to the head trauma. All victims spoke of the shock at the attacks and the long-term impact of the hate crime.

Shomrim attended all 3 scenes of the attacks to assist the victims and helped locate and secure the CCTV footage. Shomrim also supported the victims in the run up and during the trial.

Detective Chief Inspector Yasmin Lalani, from the local policing team condemned this ‘deplorable abuse and harassment’ and thanked Shomrim and the Crown Prosecution Service for their support throughout our investigation. Together justice has been achieved for the victims. Her message was clear – we will not tolerate Hate Crime. Do not come to Stamford Hill to commit offences against our community – we will hold you to account.”

Shomrim would like to thank the victims for their dignified persistence in helping to bring the perpetrator to justice, despite the time-consuming and challenging judicial process. Shomrim also recognise the many expressions of solidarity with the victims and the Orthodox Jewish community. Messages of solidarity were received from many diverse communities in Hackney and beyond. There is no place for hate in Hackney against any community and Shomrim is here to help all local residents as Shomrim have done in this case.

https://news.met.police.uk/news/man-convicted-of-anti-semitic-attacks-in-stamford-hill-457081