By Gabriel Princewill-
The police investigation of the racist tweet by Danny Baker directed at the Royal baby which earned him a sacking by the BBC was a whitewash, two lawyers working alongside The Eye Of Media.Com have said.
Their comments came following an ordinary inquiry into the case as during police investigation of Baker’s alarming indiscretion, and after it was officially closed. The white lawyer who will remain anonymous told The Eye Of Media.Com:
”this case was your typical example of a whitewash. A lot will depend on how the allegation was framed, and what criteria was used to assess the criminal threshold of the offence.
”The Met Police have either acted dishonourably or been partial in their judgement. It also depends how many people comprised the investigation of the case and how deep rooted their understanding and interpretation of criminal law is”.
Making reference to legal statute, he pointed to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 where an offender is found to have demonstrated hostility or was motivated by hostility based on race or religion.
“Aggravated offences are even longer under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 if an offender demonstrated hostility or was motivated by hostility based on race or religion”, he added.
Baker will need to show that he has no knowledge of the racial connotation the grotesque image of a monkey or chimpanzee has on race. On the balance of probabilities, most reasonable people would conclude that does have the knowledge and thus would meet the requisite mens rea (of intention) for criminal liability.
INVESTIGATION
One certainty is that if this be the case, the process pursued by the police would be investigated, and cannot be stopped.
As in many other improprieties that often go undetected, there is always a way to identify and address a wrong act that has been left unpunished. Baker’s racist tweet directed at the royal baby was one of the most audacious and insensitive of recent times, and deserves a thorough investigation.
Committed on a social media platform, the offence even dwarfs the monkey chants at British football stadiums sung my faceless and racist football thugs. Baker, a BBC Radio 5 DJ, sent a tweet featuring a couple holding a chimpanzee on the same day Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced the birth of their baby.
A number of people spoken to separately by The Eye Of Media.Com has objected to his claim of innocence, stating that no similar tweet was made when Prince William and Kate Middleton had their baby.
Baker added that the picture, which showed a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee dressed in clothes, alongside the caption “Royal Baby leaves hospital” – was “shamefully racist” in context.
Despite this admission, the Metropolitan police said an allegation made did not meet the criminal threshold because they want the world to believe he did not intend it to be racist. Very few people believe that.
REDEEM
Baker then attempted to redeem himself following the disgraceful tweet by claiming that it had not been his intention. “Seriously who on earth would ‘go there’?”, he asked. ‘The answer is: Danny Baker would go there because he went there’. The idea that after Baker admitted that the tweet was shamefully racist, it could be argued that he did not intend the offence committed is preposterous.
Baker’s tweet was undoubtedly racist, it is difficult to imagine how he would not have known what he was doing.
As a BBC radio presenter of many decades, he is well informed enough to understand the consequences of his actions, unless he has been cocooned in his own little world all of his years. The legal position on racism is clear, and an allegation is determined on the basis of an offence committed, not whether it is admitted.
BANNED
The Race Relations Act 1965 banned racial discrimination in public places and made the promotion of hatred on the grounds of ‘colour, race, or ethnic or national origins’ an offence. Baker would be given the benefit of the doubt if he could show how he could have possibly meant the tweet in another context. However, his admission that the tweet was racist in itself speaks volumes.
Interestingly, they also left out the name of the detective who led the investigation, thereby closing any door of questioning along those lines. In the meantime, that is.
HATRED
Prohibiting conduct likely to stir up hatred on grounds of race, or intended to do so on grounds of religion or sexual orientation is also an integral part of the Public Order Act 1986. Enhanced sentencing under sections 145 and 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 if hostility is motivated by any of the five protected characteristics.
If Baker’s tweet was not racist, he would be expected to successfully sue the BBC for sacking him instead of making pathetic comments in reaction to the sacking.
How the law should punish words or actions that can be interpreted as racist is a big question. There won’t be many advocates for jailing an individual for the sort of offence committed by Danny Baker or other offensive words deemed racist that have been uttered by Boris Johnson, who by the way could easily and still be Britain’s prime minister.
In 2017, Roy Larner, dubbed ”the Lion Of London Bridge, was caught on camera hurling racist abuse at a group of black protesters, and also spat at a black photographer. Although the incident was captured on camera, no action was taken by police until The Eye Of Media.Com made a complaint insisting on a prosecution. Even then, Larner was slapped with a mild suspended sentence for 8 weeks suspended for 12 months.
OVATION
The standing ovation given to Baker at The Palace Theatre was the final insult to Baker’s racism. He described the night as “one of the greatest nights of my career”. Addressing “the elephant in the room” at the beginning of the show, he denied being racist after describing his tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s baby as “revolting” and “misjudged”.
The disgraced former Radio 5 Dj who has already released a statement admitting his actions to have been racist, turned on his accusers and said lemons should be chucked at them when life deals out lemons. He said:
“You wouldn’t believe how I was feeling 20 minutes ago but I’m so pleased so let’s do this.”When life deals you lemons, you chuck them at the people calling you a racist.”
The audience were motivated by Baker’s fame and success, not the reality and levity of his offence. Besides without knowing what proportion of the audience are indifferent to racism, an applaud is neither here nor there.