Man sentenced after hate crime attack on Cricklewood bookshop

A man has been sentenced following an "entirely unprovoked" hate crime victimising The Cricklewood Islamic Bookshop in North West London.

Police were called to the shop on 23rd May after staff reported that a man - later identified as David Moffatt, 39 - threatened to blow up the shop and "kill the Muslims".

Moffatt pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm and distress at Willesden Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (23rd August) and has been sentenced to a community order requiring him to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and to pay £620 in costs and a victim surcharge of £85.

A volunteer at the bookhop, Saeed Ahmed, told The Bookseller that on the day of the incident, Moffat had come into the shop "ranting and raving", threatening to "kill the Muslims" and blow up the shop, in response to the terrorist attack which occured in Manchester in May killing 22 people.

Ahmed added that the shop usually receives a few offensive remarks but “nothing to this extent” and the incident was “entirely unprovoked”.

Moffatt was arrested after he later called the police alleging he had been threatened by someone else, the Independent has reported. “Officers then noticed that Moffatt was wearing the same attire as the suspect from the Cricklewood Broadway incident earlier that day,” a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said.

Detective inspector Madeline Ryder said: “Hate crime is unacceptable and Brent’s Community Safety Unit is committed to tackling hate crime in all its forms, supporting victims and their families and bringing perpetrators like Moffatt to justice.”