London, England - A man was jailed for 15 months in Britain on Thursday for spitting at a Muslim woman and insulting her religion by equating it with terrorism.
Charles Adams, 23, confronted veiled Michelle Idrees, as she returned home by train from a ceremony remembering victims of the July 7 2005 suicide bombings on London's transit system.
Prosecutors said Adams had been to watch a soccer match with his brother, Mark, 26, and his father, also Mark, 50.
He chanted "Terrorists, bombers. Terrorists, bombers" at Idrees and told her that her children would grow up to be "suicide bombers", they told Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court.
Answered back
When Idrees answered back, he spat at her.
"You started this series of events off," Judge Sir David Calvert-Smith told Adams in sentencing him.
"When to your surprise, instead of cowering meekly at your abuse, she answered back, you increased the venom of your abuse, culminating in what was a disgusting form of common assault by spitting in her face."
Adams's father was sentenced to 30 weeks in jail - suspended on condition of good behaviour - and his brother was ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid community work.
Prosecutor Aisha Khan told the court that Idrees had been subjected to a terrifying attack.
"Michelle Idrees thought she was going to be hit," she said. "She described feeling quite degraded."
'Full of hatred'
The court heard that rather than restraining his son, Adams's father shouted at Idrees: "Why are you dressed like a Paki (Pakistani) if you don't want these things done to you? Why don't you go back to your own country?"
"One female onlooker told police that all three men were full of hatred.
She described obscene abuse towards Michelle Idrees and her children and said she felt disgusted," Khan said.
The incident only ended when Idrees - who was travelling with two other adults and seven children, pulled the train's emergency cord at West Hampstead station - where the three men were arrested.