Man spared prison after shouting homophobic insults at Eddie Izzard
A man with autism said that comedian Eddie Izzard is going to "burn in hell" after he was sentenced for shouting homophobic abuse at the comedian in a London street.
Jamie Penny also threatened to "do" the 54-year-old's house after an altercation near his home in Pimlico, before a month later shouting to Izzard that he was a "f****** poofter" after seeing him for a second time in a nearby street.
Izzard told a court during Penny's trial that he stood up to him and pressed charges to take a stand against "thousands of years of transgender people being aggressively attacked".
The 24-year-old, who also has ADHD, was sentenced at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday after being found guilty of two counts of using threatening and abusive words or behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
Magistrates told him his homophobic language had been deliberately intended to cause distress and so was treated as a hate crime.
Penny, from Pimlico, also damaged a police cell with his trouser zip after being arrested, and was sentenced for another two previous unrelated charges - bombarding his ex-girlfriend with threatening and abusive phone calls and text messages and damaging her father's car, both of which he pleaded guilty to last month.
He was sentenced to 20 weeks, suspended for 12 months.
As he walked out of court, Penny said: "Eddie Izzard is going to burn in hell."
