A TV presenter who was robbed, spat on and racially assaulted says ‘tougher sentences’ are needed after his attacker avoided jail.
Noel Phillips, who works as ITV ’s US Correspondent for Good Morning Britain, says he was repeatedly called the N-word by a 17-year-old who snatched his necklace and spat in his face.
The juvenile, who was arrested after being chased by Noel on a busy street in London, appeared before magistrates where the judge handed down a rehabilitation order, a curfew and £100 compensation.
But since his sentencing, the presenter - whose life was 'turned upside down' by the incident - says that ‘more robust penalties’ are needed for those who ‘demonise’ people for the colour of their skin.
After being called the N-word and having to wipe spit off his face, Noel says the teen should be sent to prison and that there is ‘still a big problem in society when it comes to race.’
Noel said: “I was completely shocked. I didn't realise what was happening. He was trying to pull my bag and everything around my neck. My T-shirt was ripped.
“But he managed to take off with a necklace and then that's when I realised having frozen for a couple of seconds, and then gave chase.”
Noel says he ran after the robber through back roads till police in the area noticed and jumped out of their van to apprehend him.
After a minute and a half of chasing, Noel says that teen stumbled and fell to the ground making it possible to catch him.
Only concerned with finding his necklace, Noel was left ‘shocked’ and ‘furious’ after things took a turn when the teen spat right in his face.
Noel said: “I was keen at the time not to press any charges. I was just kind of saying to him, ‘hey, listen, if you tell me where the item is, this can all be over.’
“That's when [the robber] got verbal, spitting and then using the N-word. I had to wipe the spit away from my face."
Noel says police were able to give him wipes to remove the bodily fluids from his face while tried to 'keep his cool.'
He said: “It was just a shock on top of the shock and the fact that he did that was just really shocking.
“It just showed how angry he was that I managed to catch him or and that he wasn't able to get away.
“I was really furious and I was just really taken aback and was just surprised at how nasty the situation escalated.
“It basically just went from a silly teenager doing something really stupid to then a full blown racial and physical attack.”
Noel says that after a two-hour search, he was able to recover his necklace while his attacker was taken into custody for robbery and racially aggravated assault.
But days after the incident, Noel says he was left feeling his ‘world was turned upside down.’
He said: “The first couple of weeks, I was very much keen not to have people come too close behind me because of what he had done.
“I guess I wasn't expecting something like that to ever happen to me. I mean, you'll read about it and sort of see posts on social media, but when it happens to you, it turns your world upside down.
“It kind of just puts you in such a difficult position, where you don't want to be this paranoid person, having to think about everything that you do and where you're going and how you're going to get there, but it does.”
Furthermore, Noel says he felt ‘frustrated’ that someone his perpetrators age would commit such crimes.
He said: “I felt more frustrated and I think it was quite sad that someone as young as him [would do that].
“I like to think we live in a multicultural country and London is very multicultural and that happened so it was shocking more than anything that he was able to use such language and belittle someone in an attempt to make them feel like they're pretty worthless because of the colour of his skin.
“It's sort of helped me to understand and to shape my own understanding of the fact that there is still a big problem in society when it comes to race and we shouldn't be afraid to talk about it.
“For him to have been shouting the N-word in public like that tells us that there are still issues.”
Although Noel says he grappled with deciding whether he should press charges, the memories of being spat at and called the N-word spurred him on.
On January 11, 2023, a judge handed the 17-year-old a youth rehabilitation order which requires him to participate in victim awareness and restorative justice project for 15 days.
He will also be under curfew with electronic monitoring for 10 weeks but received no jail time.
When Noel found out the outcome of the court case, he was left feeling that more needed to be done.
He said: “He should be held to account and be sent to prison and understand the severity of his crimes.
“You can't go around spitting in people's faces and calling them N****** on the basis that you couldn't get away with their property that you tried to steal.”
"Will education and an anti-racist course help this young man? I don't know. But will it sort of force people who are perhaps racist and to not be so direct or on the forefront of their racism? Possibly.
“I think by being held to account, it will show that the system does work however, I think we need more robust and tougher penalties holding people to account that think it's okay to demonise and to subject people to hate because it's a colour of their skin. I think it's unacceptable."
Noel's attacker has asked to meet with him but the presenter says he is still deciding whether to go ahead.
He said: "I'm now grappling with the decision as to whether it's the right thing to do and I know a lot of people will reflect and say, 'why would you want to meet someone like that?'
"But I think for me, I'm just really keen to understand why he did what he did.
"I'm not attempting to rehabilitate him, I'm not attempting to essentially try and be a mentor or anything like that. I just want I just want him to understand.
"Perhaps the court didn't get the point across very well and just passing the under penalties. I just want him to understand the impact of what he did.
"Maybe it won't change or maybe we'll go out there and do it again but I think if I can have just a couple of minutes and get into trying to get the facts into his head of just how disgusting this word is and I think that will be my objective.
"I wouldn't hope to take anything much else away from it.
A spokesperson for the judiciary said: “We cannot comment on individual sentences but all judges and magistrates sentence according to the law set by parliament and the sentencing guidelines set by the Independent Sentencing Council as well as the facts of each case, which may have aggravating or mitigating factors.”
