Racist yob who vandalised David Oluwale plaque then threw into the River Aire handed community order

Gregory Palmer, 60, admitted ripping the plaque down from Leeds Bridge and hurling it into the River Aire. But he was also found guilty after short trial of vandalising the plaque months before, penning “f****** joke m8” across the blue memorial.

He stood trial at Leeds Magistrates’ Court this week, in which the district judge not only found him guilty, but disbelieved Palmer’s explanation that he only ripped the plaque down on the second occasion because somebody else had written racist language across it.

The judge also deemed that Palmer’s persistent targeting was racist. Palmer, of St Peter’s Court, Bramley, was given a 12-month community order, and ordered to pay £264 costs.

Mr Oluwale came to the UK in the 1960s but was targeted because of his mental health, homelessness and race. He tragically drowned in the river in 1969 after being chased by racist police officers through the city streets. His death led to the first ever prosecutions of British police involved in the death of a black person.

The plaque was put in place in April last year by the Leeds Civic Trust and has been vandalised several times, not just by Palmer.

CCTV had caught Palmer defacing the plaque with a black marker on May 20 last year, and then ripping the replacement down on July 7.

District Judge Gareth Williams told him: “I have listened to the explanations provided and I do not accept it. It lacks plausibility.”