A PENSIONER hurled obscene racist abuse at bank staff after they told him his bus pass was not a valid form of ID, a court has heard.
Gordon Bees subjected employees to a foul-mouthed tirade at a Nationwide branch in Edgeware on Monday, April 22.
He had tried to withdraw cash from the bank but did not have ID or a bank card, and demanded a phone number to head office from members of staff.
Court - Gordon Bees failed to show up to a hearing in Willesden, so the case was brought before Colchester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)
At one point he shouted, “I am going to rob this bank” before calling one member of staff “a cow” and telling another “to go back to India” when he was asked to leave.
When police attended to arrest Bees, 71, he then racially abused officers and threatened one with violence.
Maria Ellis, prosecuting, said Bees “threatened to assault an officer, saying ‘I’m going to kick your head in’ and ‘take these cuffs off and see what happens’."
Bees, 71, later admitted three charges of racially aggravated harassment and attended Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday having failed to turn up before magistrates in Willesden last month.
Raphael Piggott, mitigating, said Bees was suffering from a severe bipolar episode and had become agitated after he took the wrong train from Colchester to London instead of Harwich.
He said: “He had been to a probation appointment in Colchester.
“He got the wrong train and ended up in London – he was still extremely unwell and suffering from an episode.
“The only ID he had at the bank was his bus pass, and he reacted in this way.
“Whilst he was in London he left his door unlocked and open, and his house was broken into.
Abusive - Gordon Bees used racist words towards staff at Nationwide bank and threatened police officers with violence (Image: Jonathan Brady, Press Association)
“He has just been terribly unwell, though it seems he has been quite lucid in court today.”
Mr Piggott added Bees, of All Saints Close, Dovercourt, had been prescribed new medication and that his condition had improved markedly in recent weeks as a result.
Bees will reappear before Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, October 24 for sentencing.
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