A teenager horrifically beat an innocent grandfather after accusing him of being a “white Muslim”.

Fuelled by alcohol, hair salon trainee Fraser Giles, 17, pushed, kicked and then stamped on the head of the 79-year-old as he lay defenceless, breaking his skull and leaving him in a pool of blood.

The teen had been walking down Chiltern View Road in Uxbridge at about 9pm on July 5 with his father, Daniel Giles, after a day of heavy drinking.

On Thursday, December 12 he paid for his actions when a judge at Isleworth Crown Court handed him an eight year sentence.

Fraser Giles stopped the victim, who was in traditional Islamic dress, and asked him if he was “a white Muslim” calling him a “disgrace to the country”. The victim, who was not a white man but suffered with skin pigmentation loss, meaning his face has lightened considerably over the years, had been on the way to the Islamic centre in Cowley Mill Road.

Following the brutal attack, the teenager went to his father’s home, where Daniel Giles called a cab for his son, telling him to get out of the area and “keep his head down”. The court heard how he shouted at his son saying the victim “could be dead”.

Fraser took the cab to the home of Ben Howett, 20, Norwood Gardens, Hayes, the son of Daniel Giles’s former girlfriend. Howett and his girlfriend, Jade Smith, 18, of Hercies Road, Hillingdon, agreed to provide the teen with an alibi. They later admitted the truth under police questioning.

Fraser Giles, of Rufus Close, Ruislip, was arrested the following day, July 7. Police sources say officers worked flat out through the weekend to solve the case.

Initially all four denied the charges but then admitted at the first opportunity in November, during a case management hearing in court.

Smith and Howett were ordered to carry out 180 and 200 hours of unpaid work respectively, and pay surcharges of £100 each for perverting the course of justice.

Daniel Giles, 40, of Enfield Close, Uxbridge, was sentenced to 10 months’ imprisonment with five months suspended, for assisting an offender, and was ordered to pay a £100 surcharge. But because he had already spent five months in custody, he walked free.

The 40-year-old has a tattoo of an iron cross and German eagle on his back, an image with connotations of the Nazi movement, but he denied he held any racist views. He is a paranoid schizophrenic, lives alone and has not worked for some years.

The victim, who has not been named by police and whom the Gazette will not name for his own safety, is a well known figure in the community and is often seen walking to and from the Islamic centre. He was in hospital for 12 days following the attack recovering from very serious injuries, including bruising and bleeding to the brain.

During sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court, the judge said: “The victim’s quality of life has been substantially affected by what his happened.”

The judge accepted the attack was out of character for Fraser Giles, who has no history of violence and was training at a hairdressing salon. But he said the fact he was sorry for his actions did not compare to the long term damage he has caused the victim and his family. He sentenced him to eight years’ jail for GBH with intent.

Gasps came from female members of Fraser’s family as they broke down in tears and his father, who sat next to him in the dock, held his head in his hands as his son’s sentence was read.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Turner of Hillingdon Police said: “The victim is 79 years old and a well respected local man who was subjected to a cowardly and unprovoked attack while walking to his local mosque to worship. The perpetrator attacked him out of hatred and a perverse ideology that took no account of how vulnerable a target he was.

“Those who assisted him after the attack share that culpability and the sentences reflect both the seriousness of the attack and the consequences of supporting the attacker in his attempts to evade prosecution.

“The Met is committed to bringing perpetrators of hate crime to justice and it is pleasing that with the support of all the local community the main offender was identified, arrested, charged and remanded in custody just over 48 hours after the attack.

“The subsequent arrest and conviction for those supporting the attacker is a strong message that we will not only seek to pursue those responsible for crime but also those who would seek to prevent that investigation from succeeding.

“Finally we are grateful for the support and assistance that we have had from the victim, his family and the community.

“The dignity and grace shown by the family has been evident throughout the investigation. It is in stark contrast to the hate shown by perpetrator and those who assisted him. We wish him well in his recovery.”

Uxbridge Gazette, 13 December 2013

See also “Teenager jailed for racist attack on pensioner, 79, heading to pray at mosque”, Evening Standard, 13 December 2013