29 July 2023 , 14:38
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A hairdresser who is facing jail for screaming hateful slurs at a couple in front of their baby has claimed that she is not racist.
Katie Bradsell, 32, was found guilty earlier this week of hurling disgusting abuse at Georgina Rideal and her partner Mohammed Ali on a street in Saughall, Cheshire, which prompted one six-year-old boy to ask his mum, "what's a P***?".
Her poisonous abuse earned her hate campaign the nickname the "War of Willow Hey" by neighbours on the street, who a court was told unanimously disliked her.
It was heard how Bradsell called Mr Ali a "fat smelly sweaty P**i" and "ugly c***" as they were returning to their respective homes in the squalid exchange in September last year. But she denies ever having said this or having been drunk, and maintains that she has been wrongfully convicted.
Bradsell was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment (Katie Bradsell/ Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)
She claims that she has been wrongfully convicted (Cavendish Press)The mother-of-one told MailOnline: "I have been told by an enforcement officer that I'll be kicked out of my home because of the court case. It looks like I'm going to lose my employment as well because I've been wrongly convicted." She added: "This situation is 100 per cent a nightmare.... I am not a racist." Bradsell was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment at Chester Magistrates Court, and could be jailed for up to six months when she is sentenced in August.
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The court heard Bradsell moved onto the street in 2014 and fell out with Ms Rideal over an unfounded assault allegation. But tensions came to a head in September last year when the mum was coming home with partner Mr Ali from a trip to a leisure centre.
Mr Ali told the court: "I am looking over and she looks at me and goes, 'What are you looking at?' but I just blanked her and went into the house. I made another trip to the car to collect our baby - but Katie was still there, still looking at me.
''I got the baby, went back to the house and closed the front door but she then battered it. I opened the door and she was just standing there with her phone recording. I said 'What do you want?' but she started effing and blinding saying 'You fat p***k' and 'You smelly c***' and I just slammed the door on her."
Georgina Rideal and her partner Mohammed Ali (Georgina Rideal/ Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)Bradsell's tirade continued as Ms Rideal opened the door whilst her partner tried to move their child out of earshot, as she began yelling racist abuse. In a statement, he added: ''The language used to me was disgusting and abusive and caused me to become particularly angry and upset. I was targeted because of my skin colour or race.
"Nobody should be made to feel this way. I was frustrated because it happened in front of my partner and baby son. The whole incident was very distressing to me and my family." Hospital volunteer Miss Rideal told the court how she was horrified when Bradsell used the P word in front of her children.
"My son is obviously mixed race, Mohammed is obviously mixed race, and it's just not something that you think people will say anymore, in this day and age. It's ignorant and shows a complete lack of intelligence. There are children in every house on the street. It's not okay to say it." Another neighbour, Samantha Williamson, said she tried to diffuse the situation after hearing shouting in the street.
Ms Rideal and Mr Ali pictured outside court (Cavendish Press)'It was pretty embarrassing to be honest, quite a lot of people witnessed it in the street. When Mr Ali was shouting, Katie was on the phone, going back and forth, goading him and I saw him getting quite irate. There were disgusting words from both sides."
She added: "It's fair to say none of the residents get on well with Katie Bradsell due to the ongoing issues we have with antisocial behaviour." Bradsell's racial slurs were also overheard by Williamson's six-year-old son, who later asked her what "P**i" meant.
Bradsell meanwhile denied wrongdoing, telling the court she had been putting her bin out when Mr Ali called her a "f***ing grass" and spat at her. She said: "I told him to 'Shut up you ugly c***'. Then I went in.''
The hairdresser, who also has a conviction from 2020 for assaulting an emergency services worker, claimed instead that Ms Rideal had hit her on two occasions, saying she was "stuck between two bullies" who were trying to get her "moved out of my house".
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But JP Frances Miller told her: "You were not consistent in your evidence and you tried to sidetrack and talk about other alleged offences that are not before the court today.'' Bradsell will be sentenced at a later date.