Racist Bristol thugs jailed for attacks on shopkeepers

​Three racist thugs have today been jailed for a series of terrifying attacks on Bristol shopkeepers.

Justin Lovedale, 17, his twin brother Luke, and Nicholas Gardener, also 17, were each jailed for 18 months.

At a previous hearing Bristol Magistrates Court heard how the three teenagers brutally beat four Asian shopkeepers in Bedminster and screamed racist abuse at them.

All three had their identity protected by a court order when they first appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court.

But the Evening Post fought to have the ban lifted and won the right to name, shame and picture the trio of racist scum.

During a night of violence in Bedminster on June 6 this year, the three teenagers attacked shopkeepers at two different shops.

In the short space of an hour, the two brothers – who were 16 at the time – punched and kicked a member of staff in Bargain Booze in West Street, before Gardener joined them in an unprovoked attack on two shopkeepers at Costcutter in North Street.

On each occasion they shouted horrific racist abuse at their victims.

Just two months before, on April 5, Gardener, who has 19 previous convictions, carried out a similar attack at the same Costcutter shop.

Following a three-day trial, District Judge David Parsons found all three defendants guilty of racially aggravated common assault in both shops.

He agreed to lift the order banning their identification, saying the protection of the community outweighed the teenagers' interests.