So the 'law' says this was not a RACIAL ATTACK?

Oldham Evening Chronicle - Monday, 01 October, 2001

Walter’s young attacker gets four years and is named by judge

SCHOOLBOY Fokrul Islam was today locked away for the brutal attack on war veteran Walter Chamberlain.

Judge Barry Woodward lifted an earlier court order banning naming Islam when he sentenced him at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, to four years in a young offenders’ institution.

The judge said he was lifting the order because there was "great public interest in the case".

The attack in April was blamed as the catalyst for the worst race riots in a decade.

The teenager, from Hexham Close, Westwood, aged 14, left 75-year-old Mr Chamberlain with such horrific injuries to his face including fractures to his cheek, both eye sockets and jaw that he needed a metal plate in his cheekbone and 10 days’ hospital treatment.

Jurors grimaced when they saw photos of Mr Chamberlain’s injuries.

Six weeks later rioting broke out.

Islam pleaded guilty to robbery and causing grievious bodily harm, with intent, but denied racially aggravated assault when he robbed Mr Chamberlain of his flask and cap. He was cleared of that charge during a trial last month.

Islam told friends at school he had done it for a dare and was said to be chuffed.

The jurors heard from a school friend: "The boy was talking about the attack. He told us the other boys had asked him to leave the old man alone. He said ‘no way, I’m going to do it’. I thought that was really bad."

Mr Chamberlain, a D-day veteran, was not in court to see his attacker sentenced.

He was attacked as he walked home from a rugby match in Arkwright Street, Oldham, when Islam grabbed hold of his carrier bag and tried to twist it out of his hand.

Mr Chamberlain told the earlier trial: “He then grabbed my shoulders and threw me backwards onto the floor. He then hit me on the nose with his fist followed by several kicks to the head."I felt blood on my face."

Boy, 14, gets four years for riot city assault

Special report: race issues in the UK

Claire Hu
The Guardian
Tuesday October 2, 2001

A teenager who attacked a pensioner in Oldham - subsequently the scene of the worst race riots in Britain in 15 years - was yesterday sentenced to four years in a young offender institution.D-day veteran and retired bus conductor Walter Chamberlain, 75, needed surgery to reconstruct his face after being beaten up by 14-year-old Fokrul Islam.

Islam, of Westwood, Oldham, Greater Manchester, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and robbery at an earlier hearing and was yesterday sentenced at Minshull Street crown court in Manchester.

The attack on Mr Chamberlain was blamed for contributing to racial tension in Oldham which resulted in rioting but the judge decided the attack itself had not been racially motivated.
Mr Chamberlain was assaulted on April 21, just days after reports had emerged of no-go areas for whites. He was walking home from a rugby match when he was confronted by Islam in a park.
Mr Chamberlain was kicked and punched and his cheekbone, eye sockets and jaw were shattered in the attack. He was in hospital for 10 days.

Islam later boasted about the attack to friends. Six weeks after the attack, the town experienced race riots, with almost 100 people charged with public order offences and hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage being inflicted in petrol bomb attacks.

The judge lifted a reporting restrictions order so that Islam could be identified in newspaper reports.