Clipstone woman singled out teenager for racist abuse during snowball fight

Tina Armishaw shouted the insult while 20 to 30 people were “messing about” and throwing snowballs outside her home on December 3 last year, said prosecutor Catherine Wilson.

The boy told his mother and she confronted Armishaw at her home where the defendant denied using that insult, but instead said she used a more offensive term.

The boy’s mother, who was so angry she had to be restrained, recorded the encounter on her phone and contacted police.

In a statement she said she was “baffled and lost for words” and called Armishaw’s behaviour “completely unacceptable”.

Her son said he didn’t know why he was targeted as there were plenty of other children present and the insult made him “anxious and embarrassed”.

Morgan Hogarth, mitigating, said Armishaw, of previous good character, notified police about the anti-social behaviour before the incident.

He said her children were made fearful by the snowball fight and “she was at the end of her tether.”

"It is out of character,” he added. “She had no intention to be racist.”

Armishaw, aged 45, of Greendale Crescent, Clipstone, admitted racially-aggravated harassment when she appeared at Mansfield Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The presiding magistrate told her: “It is sad you have found yourself in court after so many years of good character. But it is quite unacceptable to use this language.”

She was fined £80 with a £32 surcharge and £85 costs.