Pair racially abused Norwich shopkeeper
A young woman racially abused a Norwich shopkeeper before her partner bared his stomach to reveal a tattoo of the England flag, a court heard.
Kirsty Bream, 22, appeared in Norwich Magistrates' Court yesterday where she admitted racially aggravated harassment against staff in Bishop Bridge Stores last September.
The court heard how Bream, of no fixed abode, went into the Bishop Bridge Road store with her then partner David Frost.
Prosecutor Robert Barnwell told the court Bream made racist comments and shopkeeper Helen Moss, who was in the store with her daughter Lucy, asked the pair to leave.
Mr Barnwell said Frost said he'd done nothing wrong and became aggressive, before 'he lifted his shirt revealing a large belly with the English flag, while he was shouting about England.'
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Mrs Moss, he said, felt shocked and hurt by their conduct and police were called.
Frost, from Arnold Miller Close in Lakenham, admitted using racially-aggravated threatening behaviour when he appeared in court in January.
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The 32-year-old also accepted he was in breach of a conditional discharge imposed for drunk and disorderly behaviour.
He was fined �100 and a �15 victim surcharge.
But Bream had entered a not guilty plea and Helen and Lucy Moss had been due to be witnesses in a trial yesterday, before the defendant changed her plea to guilty and apologised in court to her victims.
In mitigation, Jacob Edwards, said unemployed Bream had an alcohol abuse problem and was so drunk on the day of the offence she could not remember what had happened.
He added: 'She is extremely ashamed of her behaviour and of her own volition, she wished to apologise.'
Mr Edwards said Bream had ended her relationship with Frost and now had a new partner, who was from an ethnic minority group. He said she had booked to attend an alcohol abuse course at Hellesdon Hospital.
Bream admitted a separate charge of criminal damage after she kicked in a door belonging to Norwich City Council and also accepted a breach of a conditional discharge imposed after a previous criminal damage conviction.
Sentencing was adjourned until Wednesday, May 18 for probation reports to be drawn up.
