Irate Mansfield man landed with £800 court bill for racially-aggravated harassment

Gary Holford rang an emergency number to claim officers had barged into his home and he asked for their names and collar numbers, on February 5, last year, Mansfield Magistrates’ Court heard.

Tony Wilkinson, prosecuting, said: “From the beginning he was very irate and rude. He kept talking over the call-handler.”

She gave him one officer's name and told him she had to get permission from a sergeant to give a trainee officer's name, but the “conversation went around in circles”.

Holford, aged 57, told her: “It doesn't matter, there may be a language barrier. Why are you using foreign cultures to say, ‘look the public don't matter’?”

The call-handler, who has a European accent, tried to explain she understood him perfectly, but Holford said: “You're not using the British law. The British law dictates you have to comply with my request. I wish people like you don’t exist, you're absolutely crap.”

The 10-minute call ended when Holford hung up.

In a statement, the call handler said she was left feeling upset and distressed and was simply doing her job.

Holford, of Derwent Avenue, denied racially-aggravated harassment on November 1 last year, but changed his plea on the day of his trial, on January 6, 2023.

Holford, who represented himself, said he suffered a mental breakdown 20 years ago and is now “90 per cent” recovered, but still gets emotional.

“My perception is she wasn’t doing her job,” he said. “I have been angry for a whole year.”

The truck driver, who has delivered explosives for the Army, said he has worked around foreign people and noted their "forwardness and abruptness".

“I am pro-police,” he said. “They have helped me out of so many situations you wouldn't believe. I am sorry. I am guilty."

He was fined £400 and ordered to pay £50 compensation, £310 costs and a £40 surcharge.

Sentencing, magistrates told him: “We note you have shown remorse. Having heard the recording we realise the frustration you felt on that day caused you to act out of character.”