By JAMES TOZER

Last updated at 01:18 30 November 2007

A grandfather has

been given a prison sentence

for racial harassment

after calling a Welsh

woman "English".

Mick Forsythe used the term

during an argument over a

scratched car in his Welsh

home town.

He called the vehicle's owner,

Lorna Steele, an "English bitch".

She and her husband took great

offence at the jibe and decided to

take him to court.

The 55-year-old former lorry driver

was found guilty of racially

aggravated disorderly behaviour,

and received a ten-week prison

sentence suspended for 12 months.

Yesterday Mr Forsythe attacked

the prosecution as a waste of time

and money.

"I find it unbelievable that I've

been prosecuted for this," he said.

"I'm originally from Northern

Ireland so I'm an adoptive Welshman.

"I've travelled all over

Europe as a lorry driver and never

had any problems with anybody

and now they're officially calling

me a racist.

"It's political correctness

gone mad.

"The joke is that

the woman I had the row with

isn't even English. She's Welsh. I

am absolutely gobsmacked, to be

frank."

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The case took nine months to

get to court, having begun on a

snowy day in February in the

quiet mid-Wales market town of

Newtown.

Mr Forsythe says his mind was

on the recent arrival of his granddaughter

when he struck anothervehicle while parking in front of his

bric-a-brac shop.

The car belonged to Mrs Steele,

who runs the tattoo parlour next

door with her husband Gavin.

Mr Forsythe claims he went to offer

to pay for the scratches he had

caused. But, the court was told, he

became abusive and hurled insults at

Mrs Steele, 32, and her husband.

Yesterday his wife Val, 50, explained:

'Mick was a bit distracted because

our granddaughter Rhian had just

been born.

He went in and did the

decent thing and owned up to it.

Then the next thing is they are asking

for £500 for the damage.

"My husband has a temper and he

was a lorry driver for years so his language

is a bit colourful sometimes.

"The Steeles started the row and

Mick got angry and he admits he

swore at them. But he only muttered

under his breath."

After the argument Mrs Steele put

up a sign in her shop which read

"Some People Call Me a Bitch".

But

she insisted the incident was no joking

matter.

She said: "I'm Welsh – I was born in

Welshpool.

"But we couldn't let him

get away with what he said."

Her husband,

a 40-year-old Englishman originally

from Hull, added of Mr

Forsythe: "He is a racist. He doesn't

like the English.

"He's from Ireland

originally and he's lived in Wales for

years and some of them don't like

English people.

"The point is that he shouldn't have

said those things to Lorna.

"All we wanted from him was an

apology but he wouldn't give us that.

"So we've had to go all the way

through the courts to get it.

"There's no way this should have

ended up in court, it's the sort of

thing you should be able to sort out

without that.

"But he said what he

said and I think he deserved to be

found guilty."

Forsythe, of Newtown, was ordered

to pay £200 in costs in the hearing at

Welshpool Magistrates Court.