Cohan Semple (pictured) pleaded guilty at Ipswich Youth Court following an attack where he covered a woman in flour and eggs in Bury St Edmunds
Five teenage boys have admitted pelting a mentally-ill woman with flour as she cowered in fear on a park bench.
Cohan Semple, 18, and four other teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, spat at 49-year-old Janice Morris before laughing as they posed for selfies with her.
The images were later posted to social media, sparking a national outcry over the ‘despicable attack’, which took place in a park in Suffolk on July 27.
Ipswich Youth Court today heard how Miss Morris was sat down on bench at the park in Bury St Edmunds beside a basketball court when she was approached by Semple and his friends.
They began asking her questions about drugs, before one of the boys, described as a ‘loose cannon’, spat in her face.
Prosecutor Wayne Ablett told the court: ‘All of a sudden, a number of male youths appeared around her.
‘They all approached her and started asking her questions regarding drugs.’
‘He (Semple) came from behind the bench and spat at her, with spit landing on her face.
‘She said, ‘What did you do that for?’ She recalls the boy laughing at her, then spitting at her again.’
The court heard how the group disappeared for around ten minutes, then returned with flour that they had purchased at a nearby shop.
Mr Ablett said: ‘These items were chucked at and thrown at her body, covering her completely in flour.
‘The boys were still laughing. She was spat at again and one of them had taken a photo of her.
‘She heard one of them say, ‘We’re filming it’.’
He added that Ms Morris was ‘shocked’ by what happened, and felt she couldn’t return to the park.
The bench in Bury St Edmunds (pictured above) where the vulnerable woman was attacked, remained covered in flour after the incident
A picture taken by Semple was posted on Snapchat, then a screenshot of the image was later posted on Facebook.
Mr Ablett said: ‘Effectively the whole world can see the photograph, which is quite humiliating for the victim in this case.’
The court heard how after being named on social media, the boys were arrested, with Semple being interviewed on July 28.
Mr Ablett said: ‘He agreed he was in the photo. When asked if he had taken the photo, he accepted he did.’
The prosecutor told the court he uploaded it to Snapchat, then a ‘friend of a friend’ posted it on Facebook.
Semple, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk pleaded guilty to using threatening, abusive and insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
The court heard since the incident, he ‘received death threats’, and felt ‘remorseful and sorry for what happened’. He was released on bail, to be sentenced at an adult court on December 4.
Declan Gallagher, defending Semple, said: ‘Cohan Semple took the photograph and put it on his own Snapchat. One of his circle then took a screenshot of that, then it went onto Facebook, then it went beyond.
The teenagers had posed for photos with the woman and later posted images on social media
Mr Gallagher said the then 17-year-old, who was flanked by his parents in court, had been having difficulties over the last two years and was now back living with his family.
The youth who was said to be vulnerable and easily exploited agreed that he had been egged on by his peers and now felt remorse and wished it had never happened.
One of the 16-year-olds agreed that it had been ‘stupid’ after magistrate Mr Islett told him: ‘You humiliated a lady going about her own business on a park bench’.
When asked how it happened, he replied: ‘I don’t know.’
But the youth added: ‘I have learned not to be an idiot and to never do anything like that again.’
Claire Lockwood, defending the 15-year-old, said he believed the trigger for the incident was the woman having said something personal about the family of one of the group.
When asked how he would feel if he was in the victim’s place, he told the court he would be ‘upset, scared and terrified.’
Mr Islett told him: ‘If you were three years older, you could be facing a custodial sentence because this was a despicable event.’
Cohen Semple said he has received death threats since the attack
The court heard that the other 15-year-old was grounded by his mother for six weeks after the incident.
Delivering the sentence, magistrates described the incident as a ‘despicable attack on a vulnerable woman’.
Four other boys, two aged 15, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old also pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 12-month referral orders.
Presiding magistrate Simon Islett told the youths that they could easily be facing a custodial sentence if they were a few years older and in an adult court.
Instead as they were in a youth court, they were each given a 12 month referral order during separate hearings and ordered to pay £100 compensation to their victim, a £20 victim surcharge and £85 prosecution costs.
The 16-year-old involved in the attack was also fined an extra £20 after he admitted possessing cannabis when he was arrested.
Mr Islett described the incident as ‘terrifying’ for the victim being surrounded and pelted with flour by a gang of youths
He told one of the youths: ‘She didn’t know what was going to happen or what the outcome was going to be. You have got to put yourself in the victim’s place and consider your actions and the effect it might have on them.’
A sixth youth aged 17, denied using threatening words and behaviour, saying he had seen the others with the woman already covered in flour and joined in posing for the picture. The youth will stand trial on February 13 next year.
Prosecutor Wayne Ablett said Ms Morris, 49, had been classed by police as vulnerable and had mental health issues.
He added that she had told police she had drunk two whiskies and had gone to a green space near to her home on the Howard estate in Bury St Edmunds at around 6pm on July 27.
Mr Ablett added: ‘She sat on a bench near a basketball court and a play area. All of a sudden a number of male youths appeared around her. She recognised some.
‘They all approached her and asked her questions about drugs. She didn’t feel unsafe or threatened and answered back as she does normally. She says what she thinks.’
The court heard how police were tipped off about the picture of Miss Morris being shared on social media and were shown it that evening, leading officers to the field where they found the bench still covered in flour and the packet discarded nearby.
Members of the public in the area told officers who they thought the victim was and the police went to her home, said Mr Ablett.
When she answered the door, her hair was still matted with flour and paste, her mascara was smudged and she had flour on her arm, he added.
Ms Morris told police that she was ‘shocked’ by the attack and could not return to the area around the bench as she ‘felt like she has been told not to by people who threw the flour and eggs at her.’
Mr Ablett said the youths involved were identified and named on Facebook by people who recognised them, leading to police arresting them.
Mr Ablett said Semple was asked by police if he ‘thought it was funny what they had done’ and replied ‘no comment’.
He added: ‘Since that had been posted he said he had received death threats and now feels remorseful for what happened. He said he didn’t intend for the photo to be out in the public domain.’