London - The white former boyfriend of black athlete Ashia Hansen was yesterday jailed for two years for staging a race-hate attack on himself in a vain attempt to win back her affections.
Judge Robert Orme said Cotter (29) and co-conspirators Surjit Singh Clair (31) and Craig Wynn (29) had played the "race card" in an attempt to make the bogus attack convincing. Jailing Wynn for two years and Clair for three years at Birmingham Crown Court, the judge added that the men had committed a grave offence.
Earlier, the defendants were convicted by a jury of conspiring to fake the attack and sending race-hate mail to Ms Hansen and four other black athletes.