Student made racist insult in rant at group outside her Telford home

Kerry Louise Worgan admitted she had argued with the group outside her home on Oakworth Close, Hadley, Telford, as part of a long-running feud over noise.

However, she denied using racist or threatening language at her trial at Telford Magistrates Court.

Worgan, 29, had been changing child car seats on her driveway when she accused the group of waking up her children at 5am as they left the next door property at about 1pm on November 9.

Magistrates heard that three women had been dressed in onesie pyjamas as they got into the car but a fourth member of the group, a mixed-race male, had been dressed normally.

Mr John Dove, prosecuting, said he was "happy to accept that in normal circumstances she's not a racist" but said tempers had frayed.

Three witnesses for the prosecution gave evidence to say they had heard the defendant use the n-word as they were getting into their vehicle. Mr Dove said that Worgan had told her neighbour to "get in your car or I'm going to knock you out" as they argued on the driveway.

The prosecutor said the case was "her word against three others".

Worgan told the court that case had come after she had made several complaints to the council about noise from her neighbour and that on that morning she had threatened to call the police.

Members of the group said on the day of the incident they had come back from Industry nightclub in Oakengates in the early hours of the morning but claimed they had been quiet.

Worgan said her neighbour was "determined to get me into trouble" because of her complaints and accused them of "playing the race card".

She said she had not even noticed the mixed-race member of the group as she had been arguing with her neighbour, not her friends.

Worgan's brother's partner of 17 years appeared as a character witness for the defendant. She said that, as a black woman who had mixed-race children related to Worgan, she could not imagine the defendant using racist language.

Chairman of the magistrates, Mrs Nancy Walsh, said the bench did not believe Worgan's account. They found her guilty of using threatening and abusive language and racially aggravated harassment. Worgan was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay total court costs of £635.