2 Teenage Girls Sentenced After Anti-Semitic ‘Rampage’

People during a Campaign Against Antisemitism march and rally in central London on Dec. 8, 2024. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Two teenage girls who targeted Jewish women and girls in multiple anti-Semitic attacks in Stamford Hill, London, have been sentenced.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Wednesday that the two teenagers, who cannot be named because of their age, targeted victims in four separate incidents in the course of half an hour in December 2023, with one attack resulting in a woman losing consciousness.

They were both found guilty of two counts of attempted robbery, four counts of religiously-aggravated harassment, robbery, and actual bodily harm. One of the youths was also found guilty of attempted theft.

They were both sentenced to a Youth Rehabilitation Order for 18 months. Each girl must also undertake a rehabilitation activity requirement, for 30 and 45 hours respectively. They are also placed under curfew with an electronic tag, with one teen subject to tagging for six months and the other for three months.

The CPS said that it had been successful in applying for a sentence uplift, increasing the severity of the punishment, to reflect that the majority of the crimes were motivated by religious hate.

‘Rampage’ Against Jewish Women and Girls

In what the CPS described as a “rampage,” the two girls first approached a woman on St. Ann’s Road and demanded money from her. One of the girls tried to hit the woman but missed, and the victim escaped.

Ten minutes later, the teens approached a 12-year-old girl near Holmdale Terrace and demanded money from her. They only let the girl go after it became apparent the child had no money.

In the third incident, the teens began harassing a group of four 11-year-old girls, “using antisemitic language and asking them for money.” The girls fled, with the CPS saying that they were “clearly frightened.”

The defendants then followed one of the girls into Norfolk Avenue, where one defendant grabbed hold of the victim’s bag and arm. The defendant then intimidated the child, and took her lunch bag.

In the final incident, the teens approached a woman in Rostrevor Avenue and asked her if she had any money. When the victim tried to walk away from the youths, she was hit in the back. The woman then crossed the road to get away, but the defendants followed her and grabbed a phone out of her hand.

They then attacked the woman, slapping her and pulling off her wig, which are commonly worn as a head covering for married Orthodox Jewish women. They then threw the woman to the ground and kicked her, causing her to briefly lose consciousness. The victim sustained significant bruising.

Shocking

Jagjeet Saund, senior crown prosecutor in the CPS London North Magistrates’ Court Unit, said that the evidence in the case had proved that the teenagers had targeted most of their victims because they were Jewish.

Saund said that witness testimony showed the defendants had mocked their victims and used anti-Semitic language, “making it plainly obvious that these attacks were hate crimes.”

“There is no place for such intolerance and hatred, and the Crown Prosecution Service will continue to work closely with the police to ensure those who spread hate, prejudice and hostility are prosecuted,” Saund said.

Demonstrators during a Campaign Against Antisemitism march and rally in central London, on Dec. 8, 2024. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

The Community Security Trust (CST) welcomed the convictions and sentencing, and thanked the Metropolitan Police and the CPS for the work on the case.

CST said in a post on social media platform X on Thursday, “We will continue to work with police and the CPS, and other partners, to ensure that the Jewish community is protected from this kind of harassment and that the perpetrators of hate crimes face justice.”

The charity, which supplies safety and security advice to Britain’s Jewish community, called the series of assaults “appalling,” adding, “This case is made even more shocking by the ages of the offenders who were responsible.”

Spike in Anti-Semitism

The series of unprovoked attacks in the London neighbourhood known for its large Jewish community occurred amid rising anti-Semitism following the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack against Israel.

Groups like the CST have documented the rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the past year, with a large proportion being sparked by the Israel–Hamas conflict.

The latest national data on anti-Semitism from the CST from October found that the number of incidents in the UK have more than tripled in a year since the Hamas terror attacks.

The CST said it recorded 5,583 incidents in the UK between Oct. 7, 2023 and Sept. 30, 2024, the highest total ever recorded in a 12-month period.

Earlier this month, the Campaign Against Antisemitism held a rally in London to highlight the “unprecedented levels of antisemitism and growing extremism in British society” since the Hamas terror attack, and called on authorities to act on anti-Jewish hatred.