Pensioner jailed for 18 months over stick attack on racist abuser

A PENSIONER has been jailed for 18 months for hitting a man in the face with his walking stick after being subjected to racial abuse.

Keith De Groot, 66, had pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm after the attack on Stephen Hall in Leeds last year.

Yesterday Sheffield Crown Court heard that Hall, a man with a “fearsome” reputation, knocked off De Groot’s glasses and made racist comments about his being Jewish.

De Groot, of Dolphin Court in Richmond Hill, Leeds, then hit Hall full in the face with his walking stick, breaking several bones and knocking him unconscious.

Defending, Derek Duffy told the court that De Groot – a former singer who worked with Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page in the 1960s – was provoked.

He said: “The complainant is a large man with a fearsome reputation who seems to regularly behave in an aggressive and abusive manner.

“In addition to the racist comments, the complainant knocked the defendant’s glasses off.

“There is the clearest evidence of provocation. The reasons that he struck this blow are that he accepts that he lost control. This was beyond self-defence.”

Recorder Jane Rowley said De Groot’s attack on Hall was so serious custody was required, although she accepted no very serious harm was intended.