Bus Racists Spared Jail

A trio of racists who left a Vietnamese family terrified on a bus journey from Newcastle to Blythe have been spared jail this week.

The racists, Jordan Borland, Lee Metcalfe and Jamie Metcalfe, made horrendous comments about the family and sang football songs with a racist twist in them while on the X11 bus. Newcastle Crown Court heard that the incident occurred after the victims asked brothers Lee and Jamie Metcalfe and friend Jordan Borland to stop swearing in front of their children.

While the boys were spared jail, their utterly shameful words (“This is my bus. You’ve got no right to be on this bus. People like you come here and take our taxes. You probably have a bomb with you and are going to blow up the bus.”) will stick in the minds of both the children and the parents who witnessed the event for a long time to come. It is also a clear indication that racism still well and truly runs through the north east’s veins – especially as nobody on the bus spoke out against the racist bullies. We still have a lot to do and learn before we can say that our society is free from such disgusting prejudice and to also acknowledge that bullying does not just happen in schools.

As a result of their actions, the judge, Recorder Bill Lowe QC, imposed an eight month suspended prison sentence on all three, with each to do 240 hours unpaid work, and a six-month curfew between 7pm and 7am. He had this to say to the boys: “I hope you are ashamed of the way you behaved towards these thoroughly decent people on the bus that day. That sort of behaviour should not be tolerated, it’s just disgraceful.”